Tyranny of the government: UK Government to force handover of encryption keys

[Richard]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39269746,00.htm

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Since when is not giving something to the authorities a criminal act?  Why are people bending over and taking it?

For those that want to avoid this problem, TrueCrypt offers complete and utter plausable deniability.  It can hide a secret encrypted volume inside an encrypted volume with no possibility of it being detected.  In your first enclosure, you supply the password to the government.  This contains some regular files and junk.  The second volume is INSIDE the encrypted volume, hidden, not visible ever unless you know the right password.  However, it can't be proven that it exists.  Plausable deniability.

[Richard]

Al go and change your tampon.  Why are you defending this?  Who says that people that encrypt their data are storing illegal information?  Can I not just encrypt my business strategies and marketing strategies?

[Richard]

Actually, no.  Common sense does not say that to me.  Perhaps to you, but not to me.  At several jobs I worked sensitive audit information was encrypted.  The laptop issued by the bank was encrypted because I had a database of all the customers of the bank plus their social security numbers, credit card numbers, and so forth.

There are very legitimate reasons for encryption, and I do not want the government to have access to those files because it is _none of their business._

[Richard]

You'd trust someone like your own government to decide that?  What about the Tories?  What about the Liberal Democrats?  This is just the start.  Government never stops taking power and/or authority.  It always keeps expanding in the name of things the public are scared of, like "terrorism."

[Richard]

We are.  But not at the expense of civil rights and common decency and respect for other people.  Governments are there to serve the people, not other way around.