Posts by Andrew Johnson 1 7 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Sep 2009
O2 do unlock phones under 18 months old. I purchased mine in July 2009 and unlocked it last year as soon as O2 offered the service.. It is a contract phone. As far as I know, the only restriction is on PAYG phones - so you can't buy them subsidised unlock them and sell them on for more money.
Ok, so in 'theory' in order to prosecute you under RIPA, they would have to be able to prove you ever had a key for something that may or may not exist.
They can't prove you do have a hidden volume just as you can't prove you don't.
The ridiculous would be a large text document where every 4th word is used to make the real document. They can't demand you produce a decypher key for every single file/document I have (ok they can demand it, but they have to prove that encryption is in place) - not that I'd trust that as my only defence you understand ;)
I personally don't use hidden volumes, but I do use truecrypt on every USB stick and hard drive in my posession to protect my personal data in case of theft.
To answer about plausable deniability :-
You create a fixed size encrypted volume.. here is the excerpt from the documentation about why you can't tell there is a hidden volume there.
The principle is that a TrueCrypt volume is created within another TrueCrypt volume (within the free space on the volume). Even when the outer volume is mounted, it is impossible to prove whether there is a hidden volume within it or not*, because free space on any TrueCrypt volume is always filled with random data when the volume is created** and no part of the (dismounted) hidden volume can be distinguished from random data. Note that TrueCrypt does not modify the file system (information about free space, etc.) within the outer volume in any way.
At last an organisation fighting this intrusion of privacy. It's bad enough that adults will be forced the indignity of having to go through this system, but I would *never* let my children go through one. And if children are to become exempt, then there is no point putting them in as the Terrorists will just use children. I'd rather be patted down and use 10 different metal & drug sniffing detectors than go through this!
Yes they may want Apple to do the work, but surely this is good for Apple. It's another device that will let people continue to use iTunes & the Apple store. Doesn't this make it easier for the customer too ? instead of having to use 2 bits of software to use. If it wasn't for the fact I have an iPod and an iPhone, I would be using Amazons MP3 service - it's cheaper than Apple in the UK!
If Apple want to stay the market leader in online music, they should let other people in. Palms breaking of the rules not withstanding.
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