Chapter 1

Summary

It might not come as a surprise that people involved with cryptography often also have strong political views on freedom, privacy, and civil rights. It is easy, even tempting, to wander from the realm of technology into the realm of politics. These issues are the cause for the formation of groups such as The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), European Digital Rights (EDRI), the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), and IPJustice, as well as more informal groups such as the free software and open source movements, the Cypherpunks, Groklaw, Politech, 2600 Magazine, the CCC, Hacktic/HfH, and many more.

All these groups have reached the same conclusion. Cryptography is a strong tool that can be used and abused by governments, criminals, businesses, and individuals. Cryptography has become an essential part of daily life, and should not be limited to the military. It is essential to freedom, something the FreeS/WAN Project believed strongly in. They have created the foundation for widespread use of IPsec to ensure privacy for many, ranging from NATO to Greenpeace. Openswan continues to provide those means for everyone. And the remainder of this book will help you accomplish the same.

Esther Dyson, member of the President's Export Council Subcommittee on Encryption and board member of the EFF, formulated these believes in a powerful concise matter:

Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government...It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty.

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