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Re: Buying and selling root certificates

  • From: Robert M. Enger
  • Date: Thu Apr 29 06:12:09 2004 
At 11:10 AM 4/29/2004, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:


On 29-apr-04, at 7:02, Stephen Sprunk wrote:


The feds clearly have the power to get through or around encryption
suspected criminals are using: the FBI reports that there have been _zero_
cases nationwide over the past several years where the use of encryption has
prevented them or other agencies from obtaining the evidence needed, even
when "secure" tools like PGP, SSL, or IPsec are used.
I have a hard time believing this...

So what do they do? Send a team in to retrieve the key from your system? Borrow some CPU time from the NSA?

They secretly enter your house and put a hardware monitor on your keyboard to collect your passphrase as you type it in.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,49455,00.html

If you use the NSA, then you can't prosecute. The NSA won't testify in court, because they won't divulge what their true capabilities are.
So, you only use the NSA when the knowledge is more important than being able to prosecute.


Maybe this will cut down on unemployment a little:
The Watergate burglars now have job opportunities :-)