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Julian Assange, the hacker…

August 2000:

From: Julian Assange
Subject: call for ocaml volunteers

For some time now, our group has been working on a cryptographically-deniable block storage device (aka Marutukku), on which regular file-systems can be mounted, targeted at the human/activist community. We expect to release a developers code set at the Usenix Security Symposium in Denver next week.

This is like a regular encrypted disk except that it supports multiple keys, where it is computationally infeasible given some of those keys to show that there are more keys, or that particular blocks of data are being used to store something other than unallocated space. Even for the legitimate user.

This mitigates against coercive interrogations and legal compulsion. Only “safe” information need be revealed. It isn’t possible to show that additional information exists. Nor is it possible for the subject of a coercive demand to show that they have revealed all information. Thus a rational coercer can never demand proof of full co-operation, as its provision is computationally infeasible.

[..]

Then he goes into more detail and some actual code.

via caml.inria.fr

Update: Assange also patched PostgreSQL in 1996.