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September 07, 2005

Comments

Martey

The preformatted text at the end of the entry is being cut off by the right sidebar.

Rebecca MacKinnon

Thanks Martey. Fixed it.

Can Sar

I think this just shows how important email security and privacy really are and how much we have neglected them in the past. I have a professor who will not send emails to people using Gmail because of Gmails lack of policy on how long deleted emails can be stored (Yahoo deletes them after 3 months). People who want protection from oppressive governments or businesses that want to protect their privacy from hackers will have to rely on secure email solutions. The computer industry needs to focus on providing easy to use secure communication solutions so privacy does not just exist for those few experts who know how to set up their own encryption systems.

Adam

(Ooops...messed up the HTML in the previous post, please delete that and keep this.)


There's some interesting language in that update:

MSFT didn't have to respond to Chinese requests for info about Hotmail subscribers. ... If Hotmail or Gmail isn't served in Iran, neither MSF nor Google will respond
There are two seperate questions here: First, must they respond, and second, if its a choice, what choice will they make?

As a 40% owner of Baidu, and as a company in the midst of opening offices in China, I think its unlikely that Google would fight for its users.

Reg

There is one interesting (though relatively minor) aspect of all this: To my mind, part of what the Chinese govt. is getting by saying that they got Shi Tao's name & info from Yahoo is that few people will question their evidence because of Yahoo's reputation as a major global Internet firm. In contrast, if the company were a little-known Chinese firm easily subjected to govt. pressure, or one w/ very close ties to Beijing, or worst of all a state-owned company, observers would more likely question whether the "evidence" was simply fabricated to please the govt. Having the evidence from Yahoo lets the Chinese govt. say that Shi Tao got a "fair" trial, at least as to some of the evidentiary mechanics, although the charges against him and/or the laws they're based on are surely unfair & in violation of international human rights law (caveat: I haven't read over the trial transcript). So Yahoo isn't just providing its work & evidence to the Chinese govt. - the govt. is using Yahoo's international reputation as a credible & technically expert company as well, to some degree. All the more reason for Yahoo's reputation as a responsible international corporate citizen to be challenged.

(Yes, go ahead & laugh at my email address.)

Ann

I have a professor who will not send emails to people using Gmail because of Gmails lack of policy on how long deleted emails can be stored (Yahoo deletes them after 3 months). People who want protection from oppressive governments or businesses that want to protect their privacy from hackers will have to rely on secure email solutions

SMITH

I am intrested inform me what to do

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