ref date:28 Sep 1999 World goverments conspire to end your right to electronic privacy Blairs re-election speech 29/9/1999 "It is time to move beyond the social indifference of right and left, libertarian nonsense masquerading as freedom." Libetarian nonsense Mr Blair? Like freedom of speech and the right to electronic privacy. Mr Blair, you are so far to the right you make Mrs Thatcher look like Mother Theresa. In theory at least, law abiding citizens should have nothing to fear from the deluge of highly invasive legislation giving security agencies sweeping new powers to nullify your electronic privacy. Several "first world" countries, including the United States and the "United Kingdom" have already broadened or are planning to broaden both data and voice interception laws granting a plethora of low public accountability government agencies real time, unfettered access to your internet activities, personal computer hard drive contents and cell phone conversations. The usual criminal whipping horses and a technologically flawed case proporting to support E-business have been barely presented to the public to justify this removal of a basic human right enshrined in both the United Nations and European convention on human rights to which the "UK" is a signatory. Both the U.S. and "UK" governments are ignoring the obvious consequence that recognised criminal elements such as illegal drug dealers , terrorists and paedophiles will use data encryption to hide their activities regardless of what laws are in place restricting the use and regulation of encryption tecnologies. They have scant regard for "society" as it is! However, Westminster believes it can use the activities of this miniscule percentage of the population to rush through legislation that breaches UN treaties and bypasses the European convention on human rights (which becomes legally binding next October) to deny everyone their right to electronic anonymity and privacy. Westminster has published several discussion documents in which the smoke screen to remove your basic right to privacy has been fanned into a smog peppered with misinformed analyses of encryption technology, misleading and unatainable goals concerning E-commerce and statements about criminal activity made to elicit a knee jerk feeling of revulsion that clouds cool-headed reasoning. Tony Blair instigated reports by the DTI that led to a cabinet office paper Encryption and law enforcement. In this document Blair states "Only by taking the lead to promote electronic business will we reap the potential economic and social benefits. But I am equally determined to ensure that the UK remains a safe and free country in which to live and work" So, the tennets of Blairs (and Westminsters) arguments to allow barely accountable real time access to your internet activity and personal computer files are It will help prevent serious crime It will encourage potential E-commerce benefits Point 1 is an obvious nonsense. Many serious criminals are either technologically aware already or can buy the services of those who are, to encrypt any data that may leave them open to prosecution. The penalities for these serious crimes are already severe and unless the government is prepared to flout international law regarding the right to privacy and introduce the proposed stricter penalities for public encryption use the argument holds no merit whatsoever. The Cabinet Office paper Encryption and law enforcement suggests the following draconian new laws to regulate the public use of any encryption technology. Suspension of "innocence until proven guilty" regarding posession of data encryption keys The removal of the right to trial by jury Prison terms of between two an five years unless the unfortunate member of the public surrenders every single encryption key they ever had or are presumed to have had. No right of appeal except to a faceless, non accountable "Independent Commisioner" So much for Mr. Blairs "free country" The investigative team who profered technological advice to the DTI (department of trade and industry) and the cabinet office either did an incredibly poor job or had their recommendations ignored. Why is this so? Software to encrypt files with "keys" that are not breakable with any current computer has been readily available to every single terrorist, undesirable government or wayward teenager for years, it is called PGP "pretty good privacy". Its ready availability on "the Net" or by email makes attempts by the USA or "UK" to control it laughable. The horse has bolted, no point closing the stable door now. Software to encrypt a network connection between your home and ISP (Internet Service Provider) or between business units in an impregnable "tunnel" or virtual privatenetwork "VPN" is also freely available to everyone on the planet, it's called SSH. Like the atomic bomb and PGP, you cannot uninvent these freely available encryption tools or even stop their proliferation. Silicon Valley companies in California are making hardware units whose encryption keys are "session oriented", that is they are used to transmit one packetof data and then the key is destroyed and a brand new one is generated real time to ensure that an intercepted key can only access a tiny part of a message. This guarantees the confidentiality of credit card numbers, addresses and other financial informaion so critical to successful E-commerce that the public will trust. In this highly secure enironment data interception is useless and no keys can be submitted to any security agency due to their highly transient nature! Secure E-commerce also relies on the world wide web browser to propogate our financial and order information securely. The United States and Canada are the only countries I know of where a customer may use a " strong encryption " key length of 128 bits, the rest of the world must use 40 bit key lengths, fudge the key length or use non-US web marketing web servers and browsers. The USA is not about to give away128 bit browser technology openly to the "UK" or anyone else and thus compromise its own E-commerce and national security advantage. If Tony Blair thinks they are he is as Mrs Thatcher said "living in cloud cuckoo land". Llyods bank "UK" is one of the very few "UK" companies to be a member of the Verisign global server programme and hold a Dun and Bradstreet number allowing it to use US devleoped 'strong encrytption' technologies. This elusive status is what the majority of "UK" companies will need to have to participate in the global E-commerce market and this is NOT going to happen anytime soon! "Key Escrow" is Blairs idea of secure E-commerce, in this scenario your company will have to deposit weak encryption keys at a government approved location so that government security agencies can spy on your transactions without your knowledge. No business will want to let a "trusted"third party have their secret encryption keys at such a Westminster approved "Key authority" either, lest the keys be hacked electronically or destroyed by a disgruntled employee. So, It seems that Westminster is set to sacrifice your privacy, your basic human right to be your own private person, to "protect society" and in the misinformed belief the "UK" can be an E-commece leader using outmoded "Key authority" , easily broken encryption key lengths. This proposed draconian encryption legislation flies in the face of democratic sensibility. It will not lead to any E-commerce boom in the "UK" but will break European law, UN treaties and lead to an Orwellian Westminster prying into your home life and business. It is a shallow and illconceived attempt to leave you without legal recourse whilst unaccountable government security agencies eavesdrop on all aspects of your personal and buisness privacy. It is Big Bully Brother. Welcome to 1984. Welcome to enemy of the state.