Scarfo "keylogger", PGP

David Wagner daw at mozart.cs.berkeley.edu
Mon Oct 15 20:09:10 EDT 2001


It seems the FBI hopes the law will make a distinction between software
that talks directly to the modem and software that doesn't.  They note
that PGP falls into the latter category, and thus -- they argue -- they
should be permitted to snoop on PGP without needing a wiretap warrant.

However, if you're using PGP to encrypt email before sending, this
reasoning sounds a little hard to swallow.  It's hard to see how such a
use of PGP could be differentiated from use of a mail client; neither
of them talk directly to the modem, but both are indirectly a part of
the communications path.  Maybe there's something I'm missing.

If you're using PGP to encrypt stored data only, though, then I can
see how one might be able to make a case that use of PGP should be
distinguished from use of a mail client.

Does anyone know what PGP was used for in this case?  Was it used only
for encrypting stored data, or was it also used from time to time for
encrypting communications?



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