On 04/01/2011 07:41 PM, Faramir wrote: > They said if somebody finds 7-zip in my computer, they could suspect > I sent compressed and encrypted messages to somebody...
The difference between TrueCrypt and 7-Zip is that no one ever claimed 7-Zip is security software, and no one seriously advocates using 7-Zip in regimes where there are secret police who see nothing wrong with torture. I suspect if you were to ask the 7-Zip folks, they would (quite reasonably) say, "we don't know anything about that, we're just trying to write a high quality data compressor." > But I DO get Robert's point, and what worries me, it's we might get > into troubles even if we don't have deniability, we just need to be > linked somehow (maybe by unwanted email messages?) to some evil person. My general rule of thumb is that the secret police might be monsters, but they will be *reasonable* monsters. Not reasonable because they believe in human rights or anything like that -- reasonable because they want to succeed and believe reason is a good way to get it. If you're in the hands of total authority and total capriciousness, then yes, you're absolutely hosed and there's nothing you or anyone can do about it. There's no point in even trying to defend against it because once you're there the fact you like orchids can be seen as evidence you're an enemy of the state. But if the secret police are reasonable monsters, they have an incentive to behave in certain ways, and a disincentive to behave in others. In the case of you getting an email by accident, you could tell the secret police, "I have no idea what this is about, I've never talked to this person before in my life!" -- and, after some investigation, the secret police would probably let you go. In a repressive regime, there are *always* more potential enemies of the state than there are trusted agents to ferret out these plots. They have to use their limited manpower in a way that best serves the end of the State. The real risk is not that you will come to the attention of the secret police by some random accident. The real risk is you will come to their attention by doing something *you had no idea was a crime*... which is a much more serious thing. _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
