how to spam the spooks

[Michael James Pruitt <mpruitt@cs.uah.edu>]

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[Der. Sorry about the double-mail snafu. Still learning nmh.]

In a prior email, I suggested that an increase in encrypted mail
would aid in making the NSA's job more difficult. The biggest
problem with this is compliance. It's simpler to send plain-text
than it is to go through the hassle of encrypting an outgoing
message. Some of the more well-known net.personalities refuse to 
reply to any un-encrypted mail. However, if I were to implement
that policy, I have a strong feeling that I'd soon stop receiving
email. I have a hard enough time getting SigOther/mom/sister/boss
to not send me "postcards to craig/FCC modem tax/death of 
Internet/save Sesame street/no-headlight gangsters/spiders
in toilet seat/goodtimes" email. If I can't get the ones who write
to me most often to stop sending me urban legends and email hoaxes,
how do I get them to send me encrypted email?

I'll be the first to admit that I can't remember my PGP passphrase.
I haven't sent an encrypted email in years. Why? I'm lazy. It's
simpler to send unencrypted email than it is to send encrypted email.
I think that a lot of users who know about encryption and the
need for assured privacy in electronic communications fall into
this category.

Would a system that automatically generated encrypted mail be useful
in increasing overhead for spook agencies? For example, a simple cgi
program could  encrypt some set of random (or a specified URL) text
and email it to a given address. The end-user could be /dev/null
or someone you'd really like to send an email to. The data could
be a gif or Gutenberg text or output from /dev/random. Obviously,
the submission would be via a secure server. It doesn't seem like
this would be too terribly difficult to implement. Again, would a
system such as this be effective in making "their" job more difficult?

michael


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