Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?

Subject: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Nov 10 - 05:26 PM

I need to send an email with some information that might be - er - shall we say miscontrued by law enforcement , to the disadvantage of a friend of mine.

Now I know that if the powers that be really want to get a Cray onto an encrypted email, they will crack it. And of course they can demand the key under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. But to do either they have to want to get into the email.

I also know (believe me or not, I don't care) that GCHQ does monitor emails. I checked that once by sending an email containing several of the buzzwords alleged to be monitored for, and lo! the following morning there was a dark blue big Ford parked outside my house with burly men in blue suits in it. Fact.

Low level monitoring is done by automatic monitoring for buzzwords.

So if I used PGP or say zipmail (which I had never heard of until today) my email might not attract attention, it might not be cracked, and my wholly innocent friend would not suffer the inconvenience of my email being misconstrued.

Is PGP still the best? Is zipmail likely to be OK? My suspicion is that the customised versions for (say) hotmail are likely to be see-through precisely to enable hotmail to get inside your emails to facilitate "targeted advetising". Are there other possibiities?

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Nov 10 - 07:10 PM

What *I* would do instead of complex software, is simply use ROT-47 to 'encode' the text..This is a fancy from of the common ROT-13 method of making a text hard to read.

Explanation of both here

(One 'could' use both, in a specific order...as long as the receiver knows the reverse order.)

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Nov 10 - 07:11 PM

(for a one time need I'd do this... if one needs it regularly there are fine cryptological ways.)

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Nov 10 - 03:09 PM

If routine surveillance looks for "buzzwords" wouldn't it also look for "unusually encrypted" mail, and divert it to the CRAY code breakers? And wouldn't strong encryption weaken your claim of "innocent content" by implying a deliberte attempt to conceal?

Obviously you should print it all out, take it to a post office remote from your home, and mail it - disguised as an advertisement from a "book of the month club" - to a PO Box that your friend rents for one time use under an assumed name. The receiving PO Box of course should be at least two towns away from where your friend lives.

The only stuff my postal service doesn't look at is "junk mail," and email is all "open to the public" regardless of how it's sent.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 09 Nov 10 - 08:40 PM

There has been a "dick" on your bridge for a VERY long time Richard.

For sensitive material...communicate face to face .... walking ... along a beach with surf in the background.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subways, Buses, Fleet Street....cameras everywhere. PGP went into history with the 64 bit processor a decade ago.

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Nov 10 - 09:25 PM

You may be right Garg - or not, as the case may be.

Wikipedia reports: -

"A more recent incident in December 2006 (see United States v. Boucher) involving US customs agents and a seized laptop PC which allegedly contained child pornography indicates that US Government agencies find it "nearly impossible" to access PGP-encrypted files. Additionally, a judge ruling on the same case in November 2007 has stated that forcing the suspect to reveal his PGP passphrase would violate his Fifth Amendment rights i.e. a suspect's constitutional right not to incriminate himself.[6][7] The Fifth Amendment issue has been opened again as the case was appealed and the federal judge again ordered the defendant to provide the key.[8]

Evidence suggests that as of 2007, British police investigators are unable to break PGP,[9] so instead have resorted to using RIPA legislation to demand the passwords/keys. In November 2009 a British citizen was convicted under RIPA legislation and jailed for 9 months for refusing to provide police investigators with encryption keys to PGP-encrypted files.[10]"


THis would bely your "decade" claim.

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Nov 10 - 10:29 PM

I just remembered this:

AES free

One could send an email with an attachment with an innocuous name, created by AES free... If the password is known, no other software needed.

The attachment 'could' even have a .zip or .jpg suffix...which could be changed back to .exe in order to run it.

Various ways to think about it.

Subject: RE: Tech: PGP, or Zipmail for e-security or wot?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Nov 10 - 07:46 PM

Mr. Bridge ESQ

Have it your way...and...

THEN...Just

do it dewd.

One of us under-rates the power of 64 to the next two logrithemic levels...and Moore's law.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

What in the entire frickin' blazes of your years of "legal-advice" to UK Mudcaters would prompt YOU to post such a question? 2,000 pounds? 20,000 pounds? 200,000 pounds? 2,000,000 pounds? An e-mail worth 20 years in prison?