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Our rights to online privacy are being questioned. Historically when rights have not been fought for they have been lost - and our Internet rights might be lost sooner rather than later. Governments are struggling to keep control over telecommunications and many are planning to make strong encryption illegal. Here are some of the issues:
Why is privacy online so important?
What are the goverments doing about it?
If i dont have anything to hide: Why should i care?
Can I use Filetopia and still respect my country's law?
What are Filetopia's policies regarding Goverment use?
What are Filetopia's policies regarding illegal activities?
Why is privacy online so important?
The Internet is a great new way to communicate, but it is also very easy to control. Your personal information can be used in many ways: commercially by spammers; by competitors; and by governments who know that information is power. The so-called Information Age is in danger if we're afraid to use the Internet or if we cannot use it freely.
The only way to guarantee our privacy online is by using strong encryption. And that is why attempts are being made to make it illegal. That is why we have to let them know that we don't agree.
If we don't want the Information Age dream to become the Big Brother Orwellian nightmare then we have to act before it is too late.
What are the goverments doing about it?
It is well known that intelligence agencies have always surveyed communications. What might surprise you is the way it has been done - particularly the Echelon system which was designed to control global communications among individuals: Telephone, Fax and e-mail have been methodically eavesdropped. Recently, the European Union created a similar system: the Enfopol.
Many countries signed recently the Wassenaar Arrangement, that treats strong encryption as a weapon and thus limits its use. They say terrorists and organized crime could use it. This is, of course, true - however these groups will use strong encryption whether illegal or not! In many countries (such as the US) there are very restrictive laws about exporting products that use strong encryption. See crypto.com or Cryptome for more information.
These governments often try to force the makers of any product that uses strong encryption to include a back door for government use. They use euphemisms for this like "key recovery" or "key escrow" .
If i dont have anything to hide: Why should i care?
Imagine that the government decided to place a video camera in every home to control terrorists and other criminals. Would you feel comfortable with that camera in your living room? Would you feel happy living with camera even if you're not a criminal and if they tell you they'll use it only with a court order?.
Or imagine that the government passed a law saying that every homeowner had to give a copy of their house key so that their house could be easily entered and searched if a crime had been committed. Of if they suspected that a crime had been committed.
Or think how you would feel if you had to use special envelopes for your letters, so postal authorities could easily inspect them.
All these analogies describe pretty well what is happening with online privacy right now.
Can I use Filetopia and still respect my country's law?
Yes, Filetopia makers might not agree with what many countries are doing regarding encryption, but still want their users to respect their country's laws. Therefore, to avoid export restriction problems, the servers are located outside the US and thus are not affected by US export laws. On the other hand, any user wishing to avoid the use of strong crypto may choose to shorten the keylength size to 64 bits, which provides a high degree of protection while staying inside the limits of most countries' laws, including those that signed the Wassenaar Arrangement. Moreover, Filetopia's Client conforms to the "Public Domain" definition that excludes it from the above mentioned arrangement and is defined as::
This means "technology" or "software" which has been made available without restrictions upon its further dissemination. N.B. Copyright restrictions do not remove "technology" or "software" from being "in the public domain".
What are Filetopia's policies regarding Goverment use?
The Filetopia Client is free for anyone to use, but if you are affiliated with any government, police, ANTI-PIRACY Group, RIAA, BSA, FCC, MPAA, FBI, movie production company/distribution company or group, or any other related group, you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act of 1995. Using this software is consent that no information will be collected!
Furthermore, we reserve the right to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any unauthorized use of our system.
What are Filetopia's policies regarding illegal activities?
We do not encourage, support or condone the use of our services for the exchange of copyrighted material or for any other unlawful purpose. This said, we have no means to monitor any information exchanged using our system. We cannot be held responsible for any action performed by the users of Filetopia, any more than a Telecom Company or Internet backbone carrier. |
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