Great idea! yes throwing in random and arbitrary letters can strengthen the encryption. Something I was thinking about was replacing spaces with "-[random text]-"
Example:
sdfsdf-iuocbff-oiurwqx-afewef-gupioue
So the true encrypted text would be sdfsdf oiurwqx gupioue with -iuocbff- -afewef- representing spaces.
Hi Nihilist, I recently saw your Haveno demo on Monero Talk, good job! Thanks for contributing helpful resources to the community, we need more of this.
One thing I try to keep in mind is that if we get to a stage where governments are holding citizens in embassies without pressing charges for decades, arresting developers for "conspiracy" to commit crimes, etc. then plausible deniability is not really applicable anymore. Plausible deniability assumes courts are seeking justice instead of following orders.
I've recently been studying the GULAG system of the USSR and it's amazing how everyone knew that their mock trials were a show and that the vast majority of people in the forced labor camps were innocent. The good news is that these types of systems can never endure any significant longevity. Compare the length and legacy of the USSR to the Roman Empire and it's a laughable comparison.
That being said, your suggestion for a decoy is a good system to implement for added security indeed. Thanks for sharing Veracrypt, I was not aware of this particular encryption method. I'll need to compile a list of other encryption systems for people to investigate if they want something more complex/robust as I've received a lot of feedback about this.
It might also be worth considering creating a dummy seed that is kept in a safe, so if a thief was to break in and access it you would have misdirected them from your true seed hidden in another location.