Protecting Your Privacy Could Be Against The Law In Your Country Should something useful be banned if ithas the potential tobe misused?

[rob86 2]

I was reading about the popular (well I guess it's popular, I had never heard of it before) encryption software called Pretty Good Privacy, also known as PGP. I was surprised to read about the legal concerns around this software and the controversy around it. Apparently, it's banned from being "exported" outside of USA and Canada because as we all know, anyone outside of North America is a terrorist. I'm just kidding guys, but really the US Government doesn't want people in other countries to use this powerful software because it could be used against them. Terrorists and other generally bad guys could exchange undecipherable messages. The creator of this software apparently fought a lot of legal battles for our rights to privacy. He got into legal trouble by attempting to share his software with the international community. While it's "illegal" to export this software, I'm assuming people outside of N.A. can download it these days.The software seems to be so controversial, that it's illegal to use it in some countries. Encrypting your private e-mails could be punishable by law. You may not have the need to encrypt your emails or anything, but I found the story of this humble software kind of interesting. In case this post bored the heck out of you, I have a general question to ask as an amendment to this post -Do you think it's right to create something if it has the potential to be misused for crime/terrorism/immoral things? For example, do you think it's acceptable to create a website with detailed instructions on how to make bombs? Do you think it's right for a genius man in a high tech laboratory to create an biological "virus" (I can't think of a nicer word for it) that could spread fast and cure all cancer, if a some-what smart bio-terrorist , incapable of doing it all himself, but capable of understanding things, could simply modify it and create a fast spreading plague that could wipe out a country or be used by dictators like the late S. Hussein for genocide? Do you think scientists should stop researching things like nuclear power, black holes etc. less they be used for evil ? Imagine the benefits of scientific research into these new areas, but imagine also that this knowledge in the wrong hands could wipe out humanity? Hmmm.. interesting questions.

[The Simpleton 2]

Hmm those are some interesting questions you've raised Rob, and their answers are indeed difficult to come up with. It all comes down to one thing - if you know something that the others don't know, then you naturally feel like sharing it with someone, if not with everyone. That's why the world has seen so much development in all these years, although that development has come with its negative effects as well.If every inventor kept thinking about the negative effects of his/her invention, then we might never have seen some useful inventions which also have the potential to do harm to the society. For example, there's the common detergent soap that is a daily-use item. It's incredibly useful for cleaning, but it is also a potential bomb! So would you stop using it for that reason? The fact is that you use it for something useful and the negative effects aren't going to come out if you're careful.Same is the case with PGP and other such software, or other creations for that matter. They may be intended to do good or bad, but the world will naturally try to focus on the good side first. There will be those who try to make the most of the bad side, but their numbers are being checked daily.(And by the way, I was able to download a trial version of PGP without any block )

[rob86 2]

What is also interesting is that humanity's inventions and discoveries are becoming more and more powerful. It's one thing to make a soap bomb, or molotov cocktail, it's another thing to make a nuclear 'dirty' bomb -- but what could the future have in store for us? With all the advancements of science, studies into cloning, parallel universes, time travel, space travel,artificial intelligence.. .. it wouldn't be long before some people figure out how to use these things for evil. I guess you could just watch sci-fi movies to find out what could happen!

What about those mini-black holes scientists have been creating with particle colliders. There has been much controversy over their safety and whether or not they'll suck the planet in and that is under highly secure conditions with hundreds of scientists studying it. Sure, it seems unlikely that a evil dictator could build something that massive right now and not be noticed, but like computers, it's possible these devices could get much smaller and cheaper. It could be used as an "end of the world" device used at the loss of a war and create a black hole to suck in the entire planet! It would be even worse than nuclear bombs being unleashed.

Does anybody know about that experiment scientist were doing that involved teleporting particles across a room? I wonder if there have been any more developments in that area, or if it was just a hoax. It sounded really interesting, to think that any teleportation is really possible..

I think I'm getting off the subject of PGP, but it's my post, I can do what I want!

I think you just need a license to have PGP available for download, which the website you got it from most likely has.

Here's a list of countries and their crypto laws.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[anwiii 17]

iformation should always be legal. we already have laws to protect the citizens if someone abuses information. to censor information is to sensor anything as anything can be used in a harmfull mannor.the simplest form on the internet where people abuse information is copyright infringment. the information itself is legal, but people abuse it.as far as building bombs, let's talk about the anarchist cookbook. that has been around for 30 years now. should that information be illegal? no. why? because we already have laws to protect if anyone decides to build a bomb and creating more laws just creates a society dictated by laws, not freedoms.we have to trust that people have enough common sense not to build a bomb and bomb something important.....but if someone wants to build a bomb to blow up their own car that doesn't work, the information should be legal and the act of blowing it up should be legal as long as it doesn't infringe on any set laws already in place.just because someone has terrorist information, doesn't mean that person is a terrorist. our laws after 911 are already getting people arrested that don't deserve it. i am one of them when i went through an open door the wrong way in an airport to ask security a vital question. i breached security after 911 through an open door. did i deserve it? no. will the laws protect me? no. some laws are only there to protect a nation in general where those laws take away from individual rights of people who shouldn't be accountable for a common mistake.information on how to make meth or other drugs should be legal. that information could be used in school for reports and also studying the effects of the combined ingredients. we have to have some form of trust in society that people will use information for the good, not the bad as again....there are already laws for the ones who use information for the badso now i ask....what is good and what is bad. it's all relative to any one individual...but again...there are laws already in place to set a standard between good and bad when a persons ACTIONS are concerned.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I feel privacy shouldn't be blocked in any way. I don't see the reason why we should allow a certain group of people (such as police) to get into our private lives when we can't go through theirs.It should be either equal or not at all. As humans we are all equal and should not be put into this whole "dominance" faze.

[phpphp 0]

I was reading about the popular (well I guess it's popular, I had never heard of it before) encryption software called Pretty Good Privacy, also known as PGP. I was surprised to read about the legal concerns around this software and the controversy around it. Apparently, it's banned from being "exported" outside of USA and Canada because as we all know, anyone outside of North America is a terrorist. I'm just kidding guys, but really the US Government doesn't want people in other countries to use this powerful software because it could be used against them. Terrorists and other generally bad guys could exchange undecipherable messages. The creator of this software apparently fought a lot of legal battles for our rights to privacy. He got into legal trouble by attempting to share his software with the international community.
While it's "illegal" to export this software, I'm assuming people outside of N.A. can download it these days.

The software seems to be so controversial, that it's illegal to use it in some countries. Encrypting your private e-mails could be punishable by law.

You may not have the need to encrypt your emails or anything, but I found the story of this humble software kind of interesting. In case this post bored the heck out of you, I have a general question to ask as an amendment to this post -

Do you think it's right to create something if it has the potential to be misused for crime/terrorism/immoral things? For example, do you think it's acceptable to create a website with detailed instructions on how to make bombs? Do you think it's right for a genius man in a high tech laboratory to create an biological "virus" (I can't think of a nicer word for it) that could spread fast and cure all cancer, if a some-what smart bio-terrorist , incapable of doing it all himself, but capable of understanding things, could simply modify it and create a fast spreading plague that could wipe out a country or be used by dictators like the late S. Hussein for genocide? Do you think scientists should stop researching things like nuclear power, black holes etc. less they be used for evil ? Imagine the benefits of scientific research into these new areas, but imagine also that this knowledge in the wrong hands could wipe out humanity? Hmmm.. interesting questions.

I am wandering US has no problem in selling dangerous weapon to world and feel fear on such matters.
The recent example related to this topic would be, deportation of students from UK. They only share a email that was encypted. Agency tried to decode it and maybe they failed so they just ordered the student get of this country. After investigation, couldn't get proof but decision was done to prevent any possible terrorism activity. So it could be more dangerous than we can even think.

[sheepdog 10]

I wonder if anybody could invent much of anything at all that couldn?t be abused by some one some way? Hiding information doesn?t work either, if the information is out there, and somebody wants it bad enough, they will find it. Not really a point in hiding anything. Keeping information from people who it would benefit is not right. But as long as there are crazy people in the world, (and I sure don?t see that changing) there is always the possibility for abuse. We can?t stop advancing science and technology for fear of the wrongs some idiot could do with the advancements. As in your example, what a wonderful thing a cure for cancer would be! How could we not want that? This disease causes untold suffering and any chance at eliminating it should be considered.