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To: Frederick Smart who wrote (27934)	8/29/1999 12:19:00 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

Hello Fredrick! It sure does sound bad but here's something to think of, the FBI has been breaking into "suspected criminals" homes for years. How do you think they plant those listening devices and wiretaps in the first place? I remember reading and watching about the downfall of one John Gotti. It's widely known that the FBI entered into a building that housed his social club. They then went upstairs into a PRIVATE apartment of a law-abiding citizen and placed microphones. These taps provided the government with the necessary evidence to bring down the most notorious "Maffia" boss in history. Do I feel violated? No. Am I afraid the government will do the same thing to me just because it can do it? I don't think I warrant it. And I don't think they will be installing devices in places where they won't produce something useful. I don't believe they will monitor EVERYONE waiting for them to trip up so they can nail them. Also, if hypothetically I was involved in something illegal and I was using encryption to hide it. Could I not also utilize software that would alert me to someone tampering with my system? Could I not develop this type of software and make a killing? I mean, it's a security necessarity called intrusion detection! Could I not disable any software added to my system? Granted I'm taking some liberties here but . . . Why would I not take precautions such as frequently re-formatting my harddrive (even writing zeros to it) and keep any sensitive data either on removeable storage devices or on a remote server in another country (using FTP for instance to acess them)? Heck, if this hypothetical illegal enterprise was really worth it I could buy a thousand harddrives, set them up as I would need them and use one a month or so until I exhausted my supply. I'd like to see the government find them all and install their software onto them! I could change my routes of access to the internet as well using more than one machine (or even a laptop) from more than one location. There are many things that can be done to evade what the government wants to do unless MSFT incorporates this into their OS. At that point, how much longer do we think MSFT will survive once the general public knows? Its a very interesting debate but I feel that as much as the government tries to keep control and maintain the status quo, the more it slips out of their hands. There are too many creative and smart people out ther who will prove more resourceful than all the governments in the world. I have a special faith in the individual, no matter what obstacles have come up, we the people have managed to survive and in fact flourish. The more the government fights something the more the will validate it. Just my perspective :) Peter J Strifas The government's idea is a stop-gap measure that will treat the symptoms here and now. Once the "bad guys" realize what's going on, the rules of the game will change and the government will be moving again to react instead of dictate. Its a lost cause either way but I'm not alarmed.