Re: Pre-emptive action

Darren wrote:
"Duncan Heenan" <duncanheenan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:46fa8008$1_4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You're not suggesting that the EC has a 'dirty tricks department' are you? Gracious me!
I'm interested in your suggestion, as it might deter a crime. Please elaborate. what is a PGP key for the un-initiated?

PGP is "Pretty good privacy" - a proprietary brand of a privacy key but there are lots of different versions. Not sure how it would protect against postings under false names which is really easy to do though. The best protection against that sort of thing is to periodically google postings under your name. If you find false ones at least you can bring it to the attention of the group. If it continues you can get the police to take action against the individual (as their IP address is not so readily concealed).

Darren (not my real name!!)


Actually, I can't see any of this helping ...

For the sake of argument, let's say Duncan really posts something he shouldn't, then makes a claim of someone pretending to be him (in order to clear his name), he's managed to get the information out and potentially clear his name by alerting the group.

(Not that I'm suggesting for one minute that Duncan would, but it illustrates that you can't believe anything at that point).

If it had been signed (PGP or whatever), then in most cases a decoder is needed in order to read the messages, otherwise the key isn't securing anything. This is obviously not beneficial to the great unwashed, as it's not something that too many people have come across yet.

And tracing an IP is not so helpful either, assuming my Thunderbird reader is showing me the full header details, for some people some information is given, but my own messages tell you which newsgroup proxy I use and little more. I don't believe my IP address is given.
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