Will the bad outweigh the good when it comes to disguising information on the Internet?

The Def Con hacker conference is abuzz over the most recent Net issue: programs that let people use steganography and encryption techniques to hide information on the Net. Some contend that these programs should be made available worldwide in the name of free speech. With online survaillence rising, human rights workers and political dissidents need these programs to share controversial ideas without fear of retaliation, they say. But who's to say terrorists won't use these programs to communicate -- with destructive consequences?

Due to the possibility of abuse, anonymity software is often criticized by law enforcement agencies and ISPs. Terrorist groups, federal agencies say, are actively using steganography (embedding electronic messages in digital images, audio files, or other text messages by storing the information in inessential lines of code).

The makers of programs such as Camera/Shy and Six/Four say they want to help put some distance between words and their political consequences. Camera/Shy developer Hactivismo offered a strong response to criticism of its program, but the complaints will only get louder and more frequent if there's another major terrorist attack.

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