[free-sklyarov] War: Dmitry and encryption

[proclus at iname.com]

For the most part, what I am hearing from the digital rights, security,
and privacy communities is very unproductive at this juncture.  We
should not alienate ourselves by letting our petty personal politics
interfere with the war effort, or else we will recieve the same in kind
 and in double measure. We have to be careful about our discussion of
the implications of the attack for encryption and privacy, so I have a
few suggestion.

Every website that is related to Free-Dmitry should post a message of
sorrow and outrage to their websites regarding the terrorist attack. 
See GNU-Darwin for an example.  Just scroll down to the flowers.

http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/

Emphasize in your communications that our nation security interests in
 encryption.  Use concrete examples, such as those from WWII.  For
example, clear-signed email is good for our national security because
 the messages are open, but they can also be authenticated.  Encryption
 is vital to web commerce, and it is used by almost everyone, even
 though they might not realize it.  We definitely don't want
 terrorists to steal our credit card numbers.  Think of your own
 examples, and discuss them at large.  For example, GNU-Darwin posted
 some gnupg instructions about an hour before the attack, and we would
 not think of removing them.

http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/cvs.html

We should not retreat at all with respect to Dmitry, DMCA, or any of the
related issues, but we also need to tailor our presentation to the
situation at hand.  Make sure that you do not appear as symathetic to
the terrorists in any way, and never put your interests above the lives
of the people whe died Tuesday.  I feel strongly that if we don't get in
line, that it will spell disaster for our movement.  America needs
people like us at a time like this, and we have to make sure that
America knows it.

Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin




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