ABSTRACT
We live in a world where the US government treats strong encryption as a weapon because of its potential use by terrorists and criminals (and ordinary citizens?) to remain anonymous, where the British government sets up a centre to monitor all email traffic, and the Australian government openly gives its intelligence service the right to monitor and alter data in the interests of national security. This latter example must call into question the integrity of any electronic data, especially when used in court. Also, in this environment, the concept of completely confidential data is meaningless. Just to make sure this is the situation, the British government has now made it compulsory for persons to divulge to law enforcement agencies any encryption key when asked. The persons so asked must not divulge the fact that they have even been asked to do this. One can only speculate on the conflicts of personal and corporate loyalties this will create.
