Mike's Privacy Page

This is my Computer Privacy page. If you would like to grab a copy of PGP, see my "privacy and security links". Please make sure you read the necessary information about the legalities involved.

Note that my pages use some different but very nice fonts. For the best effect, download fonts.zip and unzip them into your fonts directory. For more great fonts, check out Dave Central's font of the day.

I've been made aware of the Wassenaar Arrangement whereby cryptography will be internationally limited. Please consider showing your support.

The table of contents to the left is a list of other webpages that I run, the one below is strictly regarding PGP. Please look through it and select what is most relevant to your search. Start with the Introduction if you wish, more details about the rest of the links are provided in it.

Any words like cryptography ^DEF that have a ^DEF next to them have definitions at PC Webopedia which you can link to directly by clicking on the ^DEF.

As of December, I'm trying to pay for web storage, etc. using Shout's banner ads (seen at the top of the page). Please consider clicking on it if the ad is at all interesting to you, as I only receive income from clicks. I'm just a student trying to be useful to the cyber-community. Show your support for free information!

Feb 1^st, 2000 I've come across Crypto Savvy, an HTML version of a study on cryptographic key lengths.

Jan 28^th, 2000 The New York Times is reporting that Kevin Mitnick's files have proven un-decryptable to government bodies attempting to access them. He wants them back. Discuss it on Slashdot.

Jan 8^th, 2000 Encryption Keys Vulnerable to a new attack, reports ZDNet and an article on security is available on Freshmeat.

Dec 13^th, 1999 Network Associates may now distribute PGP internationally. Infoworld has the story.

Dec 8^th, 1999 Bruce Schneier has co-written a reasoning against public key infrastructures. You can read the Slashdot commentary as well.

Nov 15^th, 1999 Free Speech violated(?) by King County District Judge in a ruling that prohibits a man from posting to rec.skiing.alpine for the period of one full year. Is this compatible with your rights? Contact your government representatives about this ruling!

Nov 14^th, 1999 DVD's encryption system has been broken for a few weeks now and according to both a Wired Magazine article and a researcher's paper (mirrored here just in case), the blame should be on the US government export controls.

Nov 10^th, 1999 It seems that digital signatures may finally have legal status in the US. Let's see if Canada (and other free countries) will follow.

Oct 26^th, 1999 Slashdot today has a report on LinuxDVD decryption. This is of interest because DVD technology has not been available "freely" before due to the encryption.

Oct 22^nd, 1999 If you're concerned about the new IPV6 and your privacy, this site ought to address your concerns.

Oct 12^th, 1999 Added The Codebreakers to the books page.

Oct 4^th, 1999 Slashdot today has an interview with Bruce Sterling coming up this week. Check this out.

Sep 26^th, 1999 Read this excellent Slashdot article on what the NSA really does to get an interesting look at the group so many PGP users are cautious of.

Sep 21^st, 1999 A Trent University Professor's paper on censorship on the Internet -- a good read (Local mirror).

Sep 20^th, 1999 The US government has relaxed its export laws somewhat. Read about it at Yahoo!

Aug 16^th, 1999 A recent Maximum PC news alert shows that the Feds are going to drop their plans to stealthily monitor the Internet. This is a boost to your privacy!

May 30^th, 1999 I just added a new page to the mix -- Insecurity, a discussion on why I believe computers and networks need security and what threats really exist.

May 28^th, 1999 Somehow it got past me that there is a new PGP VPN package. It allows for fully encrypted Virtual Private Networking.

March 10^th, 1999 Linux related: the Steganographic file system patch for kernel 2.2.3 is now available and a great new link has been added to the links page!

March 3^rd, 1999 Computer Underground Digest has two articles of note today; check them out.

February 25^th, 1999

The latest international version of PGP, version 6.0.2i, is now available for download from http://www.pgpi.com. It includes the ability to encrypt a portion of your local hard drive (create a virtual encrypted volume) and to attach photographs to public keys, among other new features.

-- Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]>

February 9^th, 1999 CuD today has a couple more good articles on current Internet censorship laws (and how they can't be enforced). Having the freedom to choose to or not to do things is always nice, hmm?

February 8^th, 1999 Some new developments in the New Year. I would appreciate it if anyone sent me news articles they come across online (just the URL thanks) re: PGP, freedom of speech, etc.

January 31^st, 1999 The Computer Underground Digest today had a few good articles on recent deveopments regarding Internet Censorship laws, etc.

January, 1999 I don't usually recommend movies here, but I would highly recommend seeing Enemy of the State with Will Smith as it is a great example of "Big Brother" at work. A good all 'round movie too contrary to the review on the above site. Buy it on [ DVD | VHS ]