Editing Plausible deniability (section)

==Other examples==
Another example of plausible deniability is someone who actively avoids gaining certain knowledge of facts because it benefits that person not to know.

As an example, a [[lawyer]] may suspect that facts exist that would hurt his case but decide not to investigate the issue because if he has actual knowledge, the rules of ethics might require him to reveal the facts to the opposing side.

===Council on Foreign Relations===
{{Quote
|text=...the U.S. government may at times require a certain deniability. Private activities can provide that deniability.
|author=Council on Foreign Relations|title=''Finding America's Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Peterson, Peter G.; Bloomgarden, Kathy F. (Kathy Finn); Grunwald, Henry A. (Henry Anatole); Morey, David E.; Telhami, Shibley; Sieg, Jennifer |date=2003 |title=Finding America's voice: a strategy for reinvigorating U.S. public diplomacy: report of an independent task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations |location=New York |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations Press |isbn=0-87609-321-7 |oclc=53166707}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2020}}
}}

===Use in computer networks===
In computer networks, plausible deniability often refers to a situation in which people can deny transmitting a file, even when it is proven to come from their computer.

That is sometimes done by setting the computer to relay certain types of broadcasts automatically in such a way that the original transmitter of a file is indistinguishable from those who are merely relaying it. In that way, those who first transmitted the file can claim that their computer had merely relayed it from elsewhere. This principle is used in the [[opentracker]] [[bittorrent]] implementation by including random IP addresses in peer lists.

In encrypted messaging protocols, such as [[bitmessage]], every user on the network keeps a copy of every message, but is only able to decrypt their own and that can only be done by trying to decrypt every single message. Using this approach it is impossible to determine who sent a message to whom without being able to decrypt it. As everyone receives everything and the outcome of the decryption process is kept private.

It can also be done by a [[VPN]] if the host is not known.{{dubious|date=March 2018}}

In any case, that claim cannot be disproven without a complete decrypted log of all network connections.

====Freenet file sharing====
The [[Freenet]] [[file sharing]] network is another application of the idea by obfuscating data sources and flows to protect operators and users of the network by preventing them and, by extension, observers such as [[censorship|censors]] from knowing where data comes from and where it is stored.

===Use in cryptography===
In [[cryptography]], [[deniable encryption]] may be used to describe [[steganography|steganographic techniques]] in which the very existence of an encrypted file or message is deniable in the sense that an adversary cannot prove that an encrypted message exists. In that case, the system is said to be "fully undetectable".{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

Some systems take this further, such as [[MaruTukku]], [[FreeOTFE]] and (to a much lesser extent) [[TrueCrypt]] and [[VeraCrypt]], which nest encrypted data. The owner of the encrypted data may reveal one or more keys to decrypt certain information from it, and then deny that more keys exist, a statement which cannot be disproven without knowledge of all encryption keys involved. The existence of "hidden" data within the overtly encrypted data is then ''deniable'' in the sense that it cannot be proven to exist.

''“Trepidation of Relationship”''<ref>{{cite book| last =Nurf | first =Uni | year =2023| title =Human Proxies| publisher =BOD Publishing| isbn =978-3759705044  |page= 66ff}}</ref> and ''“Trepidation of Memory”''<ref>{{cite book| last =Tenzer | first =Theo | year =2022| title =Super Secreto - The Third Epoch of Cryptography| publisher =BOD Publishing| isbn =9783755761174 |page= 244ff}}</ref> are two further cryptogaphical concepts to discuss plausible deniability, as also compared in a Youtube-Audio-Podcast.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Youtube | date=October 24, 2024 | title=Cryptography: Trepidation of Memory (with Fiasco Keys) & Trepidation of Relationship (with Human Proxy)| URL = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_IKTpU97ek | type=Audio-Podcast | publisher=Youtube}}</ref>

*'''"Trepidation of Memory“''' refers to the temporal decoupling of [[key pairs]]. In the book “Super Secreto”<ref>{{cite book| last =Tenzer | first =Theo | year =2022| title =Super Secreto - The Third Epoch of Cryptography| publisher =BOD Publishing| isbn =9783755761174 |page= 244ff}}</ref> by Theo Tenzer, the developer Textbrowser's idea for the Spot-On Encryption Suite application describes how the assignment of public and private keys can become blurred over time. The use of [[ephemeral keys]], which only exist temporarily, makes the [[traceability]] of communication more difficult.  The collision of two asteroids is used a[s a figurative analogy:  After the collision, the two original objects are no longer identifiable as they have disintegrated into individual parts and are moving away from each other. The new paradigm is to separate public and private keys again after they have been used, in the case of asymmetric encryption, or to remove the temporary, ephemeral key from the content in the case of symmetric encryption.

*'''"Trepidation of Relationship”''' builds on this concept and refers to the relationships between users in a network. The use of human proxies, i.e. friends in the messenger's friends list who forward messages on behalf of others, makes it more difficult to *identify the actual sender*. This innovative concept has been implemented in the messenger Spot-On Encryption Suite by the developer Textbrowser and then described in the book Human Proxies by Uni Nurf.<ref>{{cite book| last =Nurf | first =Uni | year =2023| title =Human Proxies| publisher =BOD Publishing| isbn =978-3759705044  |page= 66ff}}</ref> Human Proxies offer new directions to end-to-end encryption: End-A-to-End-Z encryption must be rethought when it turns out to be an End-B-to-End-Z encryption. Since the [[key exchange]] with the proxy may have taken place in the past, the relationship may not be recognizable to external analysts if a user uses an old friend who has not been contacted or chatted with for a long time as a human proxy. The construct of the *Inner Envelope* behind the Human Proxy function also creates new cryptographic challenges, provides plausible deniability to included nodes, and offers new perspectives in encryption, its analysis and decryption: As all messages in the network are encrypted, end-to-end encryption is new defined and gets with Human Proxies a potential second and plausible deniable start point. 

These cryptographic concepts serve to protect [[privacy]] and increase [[security]] in [[Computer network|networks]]. They make [[mass surveillance]] more difficult and enable plausible deniability. Both concepts can be summarized as follows:
*''Trepidation of Memory:'' Makes it difficult to trace key pairs back in time.
*''Trepidation of Relationship:'' Makes it difficult to identify communication relationships in a network.

===Programming===
The [[Underhanded C Contest]] is an annual programming contest involving the creation of carefully crafted defects, which have to be both very hard to find and plausibly deniable as mistakes once found.