sorry for the somewhat OT post, but i think it's relevant to many people on this list. i'm sure a number of people are already aware of these issues, but in case anyone isn't, i'd just like to urge everyone who's a us citizen to contact your senator and representative today or tomorrow regarding current legislation that may restrict our online freedom / privacy. the eff alert is at: http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_wiretap_alert.html there's a letter there already which you can use / modify or base a message on, and there's information on finding your senator / representative. note that the action alert specifically suggests that non-us citizens writing about this issue may actually hinder, rather than help, the cause. they also link to this excellent article from '98 on why key escrow and other types of 'backdoors' and 'trapdoors' to encryption technology are bad. text: ftp://research.att.com/dist/mab/key_study.txt pdf: http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf i know that many on this list use strong encryption technology on a frequent or daily basis, so i'd urge everyone to do what they can to protest this. i'm not generally a socially active person, but this is something that hits me very personally. w -- GPG Public Key: http://infinitejazz.net/will/pgp/
