Yo! Andrew:
Sunday June 01 1997 12:35, Andrew Leary wrote to Bill Cheek:
 SC>>> I wonder what would happen if we started encrypting the mail
 SC>>> packets with PGP before they were sent over the Internet.  It would
 SC>>> prove my theory if there were some pressure put on Fido folks to
 SC>>> stop it... 
 BC>> It is against Fido Policy4 to do that.  But then maybe the government
 BC>> has been running Fido all these years.........
 AL> Why?  Encrypted traffic is permitted, as long as the links in the 
delivery
 AL> chain have previously agreed to handle it.  For example, the SecureMail
 AL> project.  In the case of a Fido via Internet link (email or FTP), it 
would
 AL> be very easy for both sides to agree to use encryption for the mail
 AL> packets.
You're right in a theoretical sense.  It is theory, though, since Fido is 
notorious about not agreeing on anything.  Two links in the middle of a route 
could certainly encrypt their traffic....but each end has to unencrypt it 
before passing it on down line through systems that have not agreed.
Here is what Fido's POLICY4 has to say about it:
  2.1.4  Encryption and Review of Mail
  FidoNet is an amateur system.  Our technology is such that the privacy of
  messages cannot be guaranteed.  As a sysop, you have the right to review
  traffic flowing through your system, if for no other reason than to ensure
  that the system is not being used for illegal or commercial purposes.
  Encryption obviously makes this review impossible.  Therefore, encrypted
  and/or commercial traffic that is routed without the express permission of
  all the links in the delivery system constitutes annoying behavior.  See
  section 1.3.6 for a definition of commercial traffic.
Bill Cheek ~ bcheek@san.rr.com
Windows 95 Juggernaut Team ~ Microsoft MVP
--- Hertzian Mail+
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