Cabel TV's new specs require leaky encryption

[shamrock@netcom.com (Lucky Green)]

Cablelabs, a reasearch institute for US cable companies, whose members
provide 85% of the cable service in the US and 70% in Canada, has release
their

"Request For Proposals for a Telecommunications Delivery System over a
Hybrid Fiber/Coax (HFC) Architecture"

This RFP contains the final specs for a new multimedia architecture the
cable companies intend to deploy.

Here are some quotes:

".c4.11.7.1.1  Security System Objectives:
 The Offeror shall specify [..] whether it is possible to hide information
in the digital signature number of which the signer would be unaware, which
could conceal information. "

Such as parts of the key?

and under .c3.11.7.2    Privacy:
" It should be possible to manage encryption keys and provide them to law
enforcement agencies on demand."

Big Brother is watching you. Through your TV.

The full doccument is available at
ftp://ftp.cablelabs.com//pub/RFIs/Telecom_RFP.MSWord


-- Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>  PGP public key by finger