jack straw ate my goldfish

["Andy & El" <blueboxed@partyvibe.com>]

[: hacktivism :]


>
> guess the crime time...
>
>         HOW THE NEW E-COMMERCE BILL COULD SEND JACK STRAW TO JAIL
>
>
>         At the bottom of this email you will find the text of a letter
>         sent to Home Secretary Jack Straw MP by Malcolm Hutty, a
>         volunteer from the e-campaign group STAND.org.uk
>
>         It's no ordinary letter.
>
>         Indeed, should the Government's E-Commerce Bill reach the
>         statute book unamended, the mere receipt of a similar
>         missive could see the Home Secretary liable to a sentence
>         of two years in jail.
>
>         How? Why?
>
>         The letter explains all, as does the STAND.org.uk Website at
>         http://www.stand.org.uk
>
>
>
>         >> >> ABOUT STAND.org.uk
>
>         Created by around 20 volunteers from the UK new media
>         industry, the STAND.org.uk e-campaign (http://www.stand.org.uk)
>         aims to focus MPs' attention on widespread public discontent
>         over the Government's proposed legislation controlling
>         electronic commerce.
>
>         To date over 5,400 UK Net users have promised to educate and
>         inform their MP about encryption and digital signatures, many by
>         publishing their "@doption" certificates on their personal
>         Websites. All but a handful of MPs have now been "@dopted" by
>         one or more concerned constituents.
>
>         STAND's innovative e-campaign has received numerous awards and
>         commendations, including the 1999 New Statesman New Media
>         Advocacy Award and New Media Age magazine's Special Award
>         For Innovation.
>
>
>
>         >> >>  CONTACT DETAILS FOR STAND.ORG.UK
>
>         Stefan Magdalinski / Tom Loosemore
>         Tel: 07931 376 142
>         Fax: 0171 681 2057
>         email: mps@stand.org.uk
>
>
>
>         >>>> TEXT OF LETTER SENT TO JACK STRAW BY MR MALCOLM HUTTY
>
>
>         Dear Mr Straw,
>
>         How the E-commerce Bill could send YOU to jail
>
>         Please find at the end of the letter a confession to a
>         crime, which has been affirmed by Statutory Declaration.
>         The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has been
>         informed that you are in possession of this information.
>
>         You will not be able to understand the confession, because
>         the words have been scrambled using a strong cryptographic key.
>         This key was created in your name and has been registered
>         on international public key servers.
>
>         The police may come and demand that you supply the key required
>         to make this message intelligible. If you fail to do so you
>         would be committing an offence under the E-Commerce Bill
>         rendering you liable to imprisonment for up to 2 years.
>
>         The fact that you don't possess this key won't help you
>         unless you can prove that you don't have it. I wish you well
>         in proving that it isn't hidden away on a disk in your
>         secretary's home, or squirreled away on the Internet somewhere.
>         We might have sent it to you last week; but according to the
>         Bill, the police won't have to prove you ever had it at all.
>
>         Even if you can prove that you don't have it you would
>         STILL be liable for imprisonment unless you give information to
>         the police that enables them to decrypt the key. Unfortunately
>         for you this is impossible, because we've destroyed all copies
>         of the key in our possession.
>
>         If the police ask you keep the demand to hand over the key
>         secret, telling anyone would render you liable to 5 years
>         in jail.
>
>         So you couldn't complain - or explain your predicament - to the
>         PM or Home Secretary, to the Chief Whip or a journalist, or
>         even to another policeman.
>
>         Happily for all of us, the E-Commerce Bill has not yet been
>         enacted by Parliament, so we have not in fact set you up for
>         jail time. The Bill will be introduced in the coming session.
>         I hope this exercise has demonstrated some of the drafting
>         flaws in the Bill as it stands - copies of which are available
>         from the DTI.
>
>         I hope we have also demonstrated that it is not the
>         perpetrators of crime who would suffer under these draconian
>         new powers, but innocent parties who are in receipt of
>         communications from miscreants. This is why such sober
>         organisations as BT, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft have
>         publicly criticised the Bill at each stage of its development.
>
>         I trust that when the Bill reaches the House we can rely on your
>         most careful scrutiny. Further analysis is available on our
>         web site at: http://www.stand.org.uk/
>
>         I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant,
>
>          Malcolm Hutty
>
>            -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
>            Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use
>            MessageID: 4ip9dARaGOZiVnU9TThYSu4zn2SAAZoW
>
>
>         qANQR1DBwk4Dg60RRdBhctIQC/9KyjRA6qcZ0lPbb4fA59T6ZL33KjK80+AoP4hR
>         /hycfEk1j9LgTST8NP6yq70x2R5N1If0oktkKLjALPxpXhRYdV260SWOkUMHCc/h
>         Mk6n0xy0T8Klf9kmrcD2/1jg1HEApgU09zKPt5uktwPbvbyWEcDCSmQzb2K2rPDm
>         DwDxk0Paq0vl9wg4spALX9tliVgFg7vVJBeXwYtCeCLFjw5Qcf9lrlLvRIWsZ/WW
>         VgWUnSaqIqx6pLhMgyY/TFGlztn/KLluPw71Kxw3N7apabnHzomuSi1upAaRHOnY
>         GUgdBGCA4sXotN9arXI9kbRZsoMVCkqb5WCuhtY80vqW9I2BDm/iVJ75a28dFK4A
>         lKRNbmgbfFO42AKdUUmfo2BtO6MuZVKG+Eqq0M4XeKCZuD0ISRXlLrW2MguUt6vY
>         iizH56i1feODJ0XlNeYv19o0uscMAJA3ly5ApHg69UoJXbIrGJImf/zciGRp/m58
>         s5BCXqeF+GQYpJ8/d0n0Q2XabVBzM8hkKU0d5cgbHa+53f5Yx1cjz1GCZGeusIID
>         GXAG9gZsbmrtEY8wnBS0fCUSUMW9OrSu5ULTTltrOlNQ/lb+ohVFFWPcbZGdV+C1
>         GCshaow/w0wb64XoDzT40a8GZWMfmMDCVXb64ajAGoenMPtjd3B5HB6vvYEsF2S3
>         NbkeIz+mSP7bEzlpZt1A0qh1kMkKnqZD6tiewBgBX6xjfVkRDUpM9SqcZ1HTRAnG
>         PunG4WDHUOkEMv+m1RYNf57E/RRbKts3GDIudRCpOzNv7UUiSAiDL6Vvxh8UyMhi
>         BKmcobYyKuSEYmrNcnErlMGCZZz5MK//NFWMS25eWR5HpMJBOno8zrV5GjvQ6DwI
>         NMyqKrlF4VTY1Lb8JYOgLQhwV6KBuAubEYUrOFaI4LYm2RopcKY9zJBncTOV2POr
>         qmZYnwYnWU57uiaQ7v7Nzl4vhdhw+8nA/CvOXFno5DLmNRiyp7alQTuvO+eCRngK
>         UU+b8IruO3ADBFTaSr/0aAhTEUVnbUZjCYstnKqk9BYSF4+V4Sxn46BveDEMNvlw
>         cXwkLqqlrDEq8YsfPUoCOOAsj17hPTccKyyMGEoKtTDjg2FctEFtO1GlXdFbXI3C
>         wWl04yqYeTvOVoJppxUhP7IRdxPfN291oHcceBV+CJV95Pf5ae97ZYcoL72Ugsuv
>         PkObsWDcfHwezxzgmina6fS0wIassy5SPElMahNHfEnazun0V2NQDMRImAjv4aEj
>         8C0OmQHn4hg5V0/owC/+qFsaXcTl2AjAq2atRMUi0tiITgRkE0oFSXyFMyzOchGE
>         iqm8TYVFm0YyF+DDu8MfGN4J8Xcoi30KaURWgiB5ChvvdF2lsc1lHKSLgtL9rCqc
>         8h38cJf2qEIjIPb5U0SCMOO3pRxcf9OjRWtbDr8YUsBSI5ptsTjd06ewPgx9dw5G
>         M6xYimKl6bpEGilOf7qcxJR+L4z1l5oFiwaXyiBmputuObj5mKldsKcg5PW56bT/
>         1acGveC4iqEtepu/8vULsKsJQkQe9ajiU+YNL2ybvlfzH1blCg===YJkl
>            -----END PGP MESSAGE---
>
>
>


[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]