[Enigmail] A bit OT (comes from) Idea for improvement...

[Robert J. Hansen]

Faramir wrote:
>   So, a legitimate company launch DoS attacks against "pirates"... but,
> aren't DoS attacks another way of "cyber-crime"? What come next, people
> breaking the legs of a drug dealer, just because drug dealers are
> criminals? I mean, there is a reason why we have laws, police, and
> judges... and not Charles Bronson or The Boondock Saints...

In point of fact, this _is_ law.  Seriously.

A surprisingly good definition for government is "whoever is strong
enough to claim and defend a right to initiate force."  If you're living
in Chicago housing projects, your local gang might be more of a
government than the Chicago Housing Authority (see Sudhir Venkatesh's
excellent book _Gang Leader for a Day_).

Classical governments have not demonstrated any real ability to police
the internet.  On top of that, the governed -- the netizens -- generally
are quite hostile to attempts by classical governments to police the
internet.  Americans might applaud the FBI's involvement in fighting
child pornography, but people in Canada might wonder why the American
government thinks it's the internet's traffic cop.

Vigilantism is the unlawful appropriation of government's powers of law
enforcement.  If the history of the internet tells us there is _no_
government with the power to enforce the laws of a particular nation
upon the internet, can actions such as this really be called vigilantism?

That's not to say what they're doing is moral, ethical, or productive.
Those three questions are difficult and no clear-cut answers exist.
However, arguing "this is vigilantism" is a dog that just won't hunt.
It's not vigilantism.

>   Also, the article says "Approximately 41 percent of large companies
> (with over 20,000 employees) have employees who read and monitor
> outgoing e-mail." Well, if some work mates start laughing behind you,
> after you sent an email to your girlfriend (talking about leather
> handcuffs, and other things like that), you know what have happened...

Don't laugh.  This has actually happened to people I know.

My best friend was getting married.  His fiancée was several states
away.  They'd trade emails back and forth at work, nothing that
interfered with their workday.  They were planning a honeymoon, and you
can imagine how certain newlywed activities were influencing their
choice of vacation spot.

She went down to her system administrator's office to ask about a
problem with the printer, and heard down the hallway one of her emails
being read aloud, and much laughter.  She stormed in, and discovered the
sysadmin was reading email to a pretty young receptionist, apparently in
order to show her how much geek power he had in the department.

So yes, what you're talking about has happened.  I know these people
very well, and have been honored to know them for over a decade.  It
happened to them.