[freehaven-dev] uses of free haven / data haven issues

[dmolnar@belegost.mit.edu]

Since we are discussing moral issues in free haven today, seems worthwhile
to try cataloging as many such issues as of I can think. 

TRADING "BAD DATA" :

"Bad Data" consists of material which is illegal to posess because it
is considered to be harmful in and of itself. I'm arbitrarily excluding
political writing from this category. 

	- Copyrighted materials can be traded over free haven. Windows 2K,
  MP3s, etc. The standard "piracy" issue. People have been going back and
  forth on this at least since the mid-80s, probably before.
  See also Napster, Gnutella.

	- Patent-infringing material can be traded over free haven. This
  would have included PGP in versions prior to 2.5 , which I don't mind.
  What patent-infringing examples exist which are less
  appealing?

	- Material which runs afoul of trade secrets. Includes DeCSS and
  cphack, also includes someone posting a secret formula for 
  widgets and causing widget co to go out of business. 

	- Child pornography.


POLITICAL DATA :

The "Chinese Dissident Problem." Well, also, the "US Dissident Problem." 
Actually, a better example would be the "Saudi Dissident Problem" - Saudi
Arabian dissidents really do use fax machines  to communicate,
there really is a not-very-secret conformance police("The Committee for
the Preservation of Good and Prevention of Vice"), and there really 
are copies of PGP floating around on BBSes in the Kingdom. 

	* If we build a system which doesn't work well enough, and
        a dissident tries to use it, he or she may die. 

	* Karla Holmoka case : court in Canada orders blackout on news 
	of a case. U.S. papers print news anyway. It is alleged that
	this taints the pool of prospective jurors. Free Haven makes
	this kind of jurisdictional arbitrage much easier.
	The issue : the court in Canada is supposed to be speaking for
	the people - is it moral to circumvent its decision because
	you disagree with it? 

	* Zundelsite case : Germany has very strict anti-Nazi laws. 
	What about neo-Nazis spawning Web servers refreshed via 
	Free Haven?

	* more generally : "how" can we interfere with the running of
	a foreign State by aiding and abetting its dissidents? 
	what makes us different from the CIA?
	what gives us "the right" to interfere with another country's
	laws?
	(I don't like this argument at all, but it might come up)

	* "turnabout" : what happens when the Free Haven is used to 
	post material we don't like? when it's used to coordinate
	actions we don't like? (we = people designing the system)

DATA COLLECTIONS 

	I'm about 1/3 of the way through "Database Nation." (Don't worry,
	I'll make up for it by going back and reading the copy of 
	"Anarchy, State, and Utopia" which was on the next shelf :)
	Garfinkle spends much time on credit bureaus, arguing that
	these large collections of data make possible abuses which 
	require laws to address.

	These laws include provisions for such things as the right
	to ensure your own data is "high quality." The most
	straightforward way of enforcing such laws is to find out where
	the data collections are, and then audit them.

	* What happens if a credit bureau places its database in 
	Free Haven? 

	* What happens if a credit bureau operates as a "Blacknet" ? 
	Post the encrypted e-cash, name of checkee, etc. under one
	public key to a newsgroup. Bureau processes data and sends you a
	new public key. You use this as a search key for free haven, and
	out pops the credit report. 

On the other hand, we could have interesting individual uses as well.

	* What if I place a database of police informers into the Free
	Haven?

	* What if I create a "synthespian" (3D model + movement rules)
	for Sharon Stone and place it in Free Haven? What if I do the
	same thing to you? 

	* What if I post the contents of your garbage to Free Haven?

ANONYMITY ISSUES NOT SPECIFIC TO FREE HAVEN :

Some of the same uses/issues which come up with anonymous remailers in 
general seem to apply to Free Haven.

	* Whistleblowing. Now include all the documents !
	* Death threats
	* Kidnapping communications
	* Spam
	* Harassment (e.g. sending you keys which pull out graphic
	pictures of you and everyone in your family being...)
	* Blackmail 

	* various issues about how "seriously" to take anonymous speech,
	and questions like "can you ever take credit for something 
	said anonymously?" 


I'm sure there's more, and we'll probably find out more in an hour or so.
See you all there!

Thanks, 
-David