> What stops her from sending me real messages with this kind of content? > Even non-encrypted? I could reply "I don't know what you're talking > about", but how does the prosecutor care?
If the prosecutor has plaintext of the emails, it makes your claims of innocence much easier to believe. It's when the prosecutor cannot know what the plaintext is that the prosecutor has an incentive to ramp up the pressure immensely. > The only way I could get out > of it is to show I don't have any connection with Alice Not at all. Imagine if you were using a non-deniable system, such as plain-vanilla OpenPGP. "This message was sent via a non-deniable system. There, see? That's a correct signature from Alice, and it was encrypted with my certificate. There! See? She was just sending me a recipe for potato chip dip for my Super Bowl party!" The prosecutor is going to be afraid of what she can't see. She has Alice, saying you're in it up to your eyeballs: she has you, claiming innocence: she has a bunch of messages which you say are deniable and you can't prove anything but which Alice says "he's lying to you." Really, I feel sympathy for Paula: she's in a terrible spot. Being able to present your messages is a good way of breaking that logjam: suddenly, Paula's wrath turns on Alice for her deceptiveness and deceit. > way I could ever do that -- as Sven mention off-list, the mere existence > of deniable systems gives me this danger. Not as much as you might think. You could also say that the evidence of disk wiping programs makes it hard for you to claim, "but I never had that data in the first place!" In reality, if the cops search your hard drive and see Evidence Eliminator, they're going to strongly suspect you of trying to destroy something important: but if the forensicist comes back and says, "nope, no evidence he ever downloaded a file wiper," it gives your claims of innocence more weight. > Also, when did Alice turn evil? :) She and Bob have been overthrowing governments, committing securities fraud, carrying on a torrid affair without their spouses' knowledge, etc., for a very long time, all despite the fact they've never met face to face, they don't trust each other, and know they're under surveillance by the secret police. As one wag said, "a cryptographer is someone who doesn't think Alice and Bob are crazy." _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
