Re: Purpose of Data Havens

["L. McCarthy" <lmccarth@thor.cs.umass.edu>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Hal writes:
> The idea of offsite storage doesn't seem that helpful since you can just
> store the data on your own disk in encrypted form.  Maybe if encryption
> gets outlawed it would be useful, but then you can't use encryption to
> communicate with the haven.

As Eric notes elsewhere, off-site backups are useful in general in case some
physical calamity strikes your site. It seems to me that a data haven 
addresses a more aggressive threat model than this. Rather than just worrying
about the act of a hacker / nature / etc. eradicating our local copies of
data (encrypted or not), we're concerned about intelligent agents (human or
electronic) attempting to commit genocide on all instances of some data we
possess. 

Scenario: June is a test engineer at Rockwell Intl. At the lab where she works,
it is observed that some rubber O-rings being designed for the space shuttle
are liable to crack, and lose their airtight seal, when exposed to the 
extremely low temperatures of space. The project is behind, so the researchers
are instructed to proceed in spite of the problem. June encrypts the test
results and deposits them in a data haven. Then she calls her boss's boss and
offers a deal (whitemail ?). Either the part is redesigned, or she'll present
the incriminating evidence to the New York Times. Even if Rockwell sends some
goons to June's apartment while she's at work the next day, to reduce her 
laptop to solder, she still has the means to carry out her threat.

"Rikki don't lose that number - send it off in a letter to yourself"-Steely Dan

 -L. Futplex McCarthy
- ---
[This message has been signed by an auto-signing service.  A valid signature
means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the
signature and forwarded.]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Gratis auto-signing service

iQBFAwUBLxVwgSoZzwIn1bdtAQF0vwGAuLRLR9PVcj9Q8NCqNDvRf4bC5zUA4A/U
m/9tT74hoQNEBNEzw1TqZTr0ZxHtciwd
=uXUO
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----