Good point. I would imagine, simply because I don’t know, the “government” is sufficiently versed in deciphering encryption this isn’t such a problem. I also imagine they can also guess that a message coming (for example) from Siemans in Germany to a GE email address in America that the message will be legit. On the other hand a large email from a Romanian server to Joe Smuck in East Bumfuck Idaho might warrant deeper investigation.

My assumption is the BP is looking more for kiddie porn than anything else. Movies and music are too easily down loadable through regular internet channels. Busting someone with kiddie porn is a much bigger deal than busting someone with an illegal copy of Tropic Thunder or Dark Side of the Moon.

The BP is aware of politics. If they get carried away they will end up effectively stopping cross border traffic. Too many communities are closely tied to that traffic to have it stop.

Fully agree. Let’s follow the arms race. It’s a good mother of invention.

Gov is working hard on new hardware…

Yes, they are… the big leap will be when the get real quantum computers. Right now they’re just in their infancy (currently they’re just fiddling around with a few memory cells), but some 20 years down the road, they’re probably a reality. Simulations that took months to make with todays super computers, will take mere minutes with a quantum computer. So, yes… cracking encrypted files in a reasonable time will be within reach. But then again… we’ll probably have way longer keys and perhaps way different algorithms.

Yes there are limitations to what the government can do.

All I am saying, it’s not a static game.

Gov is working hard on new hardware, software (better algorithms) and facilities to expand it’s capabilities to crack any code thrown at them. They also do the same to track all forms of electronic communications.

Bin Laden kerned the best way to communicate with the world was to throw his phone and electronics away.

No problem. That’s what the Internets are for…

#65 – Mr. Fusion – The government can and does monitor ALL traffic crossing the border. Encrypted material can and will get their attention.

And how much of that encrypted data (we’re talking about TBs of data per day) do they try to decrypt? I’ve never heard of US law enforcement agencies arresting people for running TOR or encrypted torrents.

While you might be secure in your own home against unreasonable search and seizure, try crossing a border with your home on wheels and use the same argument. It has been that way for as long as I know of.

The things ya c’n learn on the internetwebtubies thingsamajigs. All theses years I was wrong on that point.

Thank you for pointing that out.

It’s a matter of privacy. The government never had the right to open your private snail mail, but for some reason, they think they’re allowed to read all your emails. You don’t have to be a right-wing militia nut to think this isn’t right.

#62 – Greg Allen

Even a totalitarian regime like China allows SSL, so you can just download your encrypted file from a secure server. They won’t find out unless they’ve hacked your machine.

I took a security course a while back, where they talked about – among other things – steganography… it’s amazing how much information you can hide inside for instance an image without anybody seeing it.

Having traveled to a few oppressive countries, I’ve given this a lot of thought.

The main problem with your system is that some countries are going to “red flag” you for even downloading encrypted data. They use packet sniffers and only-goodness-knows what sets off the alarms.

Hiding it on your hard drive is probably safer.

This is where steganography has always intrigued me. If you could embed your data in a playable video file, that would be cool. The problem, though, is you also have to hide your encryption program.

But, I’ll say it again. The best solution is for ALL data to be encrypted. That way, YOURS won’t get red flagged.

“reasonable amount of time” is key.

This is why I have a bee-in-my-bonnet about having _all_ our data and communication encrypted.

Even if the government could decrypt the data, it would have to be extremely fast to be useful, considering the massive volume of data flying around.

BTW, I’m not some anti-government militia type.

I think the biggest personal security threat is a running tie between corporations and scammers.

(Well, if you live in China and some places in the ME, the government might be the biggest threat.)

Thank you for the apology! I’m not the most civil person on this board so I don’t get too flustered. Still, thanks!

For having Windows installed?

You wouldn’t be the first chump to think he’s smarter then everyone else.

LOL – Reason doesn’t work on you.

And btw… Bill Gates never said that.

Yes, but as a rule most people don’t do as they say the do.

Therefore, if I was to stop you and take your computer and give it to one of our computer experts, I am certain I could find a way to charge you with something.

You wouldn’t be the first chump to think he’s smarter then everyone else.

And you sound very ignorant. Did you even type 2^448 combinations into your calculator? Here’s the rough result:

726838724295606890549323807888000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 combinations

Compare that number with your dear little super computer, which does 1105000000000000 operations per second… which is roughly 34871148000000000000000 operations per year (One year = ~365.25, and let’s pretend that this fantastic machine doesn’t have any overhead, and that it can make one guess per operation… which it doesn’t)

So, take the first number and divide it with the second one, and you’ll get the number of years it take to try all combinations… just some 208435559476162611723974159923840000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years. I hope you’ve got patience.

You need a GIANT leap in computer power to do it.