WestWord article - YOW!

["L. Detweiler" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>]

I've been putting off responding to the WestWord Zimmermann article
immediately to digest the spectacular prose -- This is a FANTASTIC
article! It *almost* surpasses Markoff for sheer color and technical
mastery! (<g>) This is INCREDIBLE propaganda for the cypherpunk cause.
E. Dexheimer writes like he is a cypherpunk list subscriber! We have
*everything*: *pricelessly* memorable quotes by Gilmore, Bidzos,
Denning, Zimmermann, Diffie, Rotenberg. We have a mention of the
Cypherpunks. We have the NSA. Dexheimer has a *dazzling* nose for the
essential areas and most  momentous, and cutting quotes.

A few points to be made. First, it brings deals with the PGP-pedophile
aspect head on and in an ultimately redeeming way. We have to face that
concealing criminal behavior is very intrinsic to cryptographic
techniques, but, as PRZ says, the bottom line is:

>He also concedes that, despite what law enforcement officers say about
>him being irresponsible for publishing PGP he is trouble by people who
>use the software for unsavory purposes. The William Steen case, for
>instance, unnerved him. "This is not a black-and-white issue to me,"
>Zimmermann says. "The thought of a child molester out there using PGP
>does keep me up at nights. I think the benefits will outweigh the cost
>to society, though."

This is characteristic of the article's outstanding balance. Virtually
every point of contention is mapped out in critical detail on both
sides. Another example of this is how PRZ rebuts claims of the software
being for personal profit as saying he `has a history of political activism'.

Other amazingly ironic observations in the article stand out. Perhaps
the most damaging quote is completely nullified by a later element of the story:

"Phil Zimmermann? He's a dirtbag," spits out Brian Kennedy, the
detective who headed up the Steen investigation. "He's an irresponsible
person who takes credit for his invention without taking responsibility
for its effect. He's protected people who are preying on children. I
hope that someday he'll get what he deserves."

Later the  ``California computer-crime expert William Sternow called in
on the case'' says:

>In perhaps the greatest testimony to Zimmermann's program, even those
>who condemn the programmer for irresponsibly releasing PGP continue to
>use his software. "It's a great program," concedes Sacramento computer
>expert Sternow. "We recommend in our training to cops that they use it
>to encrypt their stuff." Sternow estimates that more than 500 law
>enforcement officers currently use PGP.

So we have the stark irony that the `authorities' simultaneously
condemn and praise Zimmermann -- the former when it obstructs their
job, the latter when it aids it.

The other main point to be made is that the author has an
*extraordinary* grasp of the public key and RSA technology (and
virtually every other aspect of the entire complex story). In fact, his
technical description for the layman is so masterful I simply find it
hard to believe Dexheimer has not had previous exposure to the topic.

The quotes are absolutely so sterling I *have* to cut them out.
Cypherpunks, please stick 'em in your signatures.

Finally, regarding the posting, does anybody know anything about all
those groups that were listed by `S. Boxx'? I think I might have been
the first to come up with `CRAM' (in a satirical post on the NY
cybertax) but all those others I thought were disconnected. It looks
like the person is just throwing in a lot of sinister-sounding labels
to upset the police and NSA! a little electronic graffiti!

One other thing -- why is a Colorado newspaper breaking that California
Steen case wide open? Isn't there any press reports on it in
California? Why haven't we seen any from you lazy CA cypherpunks, anyway? <g>


===cut=here===

``The task was given to us to decrypt this stuff. And to this day we
have not been able to do it.''
--William Sternow, California computer-crime expert.

(yeah, right -- a `computer crime expert' has a chance at discovering a
polynomial-time factoring algorithm!)

``Phil Zimmermann? He's a dirtbag.  He's an irresponsible person who
takes credit for his invention without taking responsibility for its
effect. He's protected people who are preying on children. I hope that
someday he'll get what he deserves.''
--Brian Kennedy, Sacramento head detective.

``I get mail from people in the Eastern Bloc saying how much they
appreciate PGP-- `Thanks for doing it.' When I'm talking to Americans
about this, a lot of them don't understand why I'd be so paranoid about
the government. But people in police states, you don't have to explain
it to them. They already get it. And they don't understand why we don't.''
--PRZ

``PGP could potentially become a widespread problem.''
--Dorothy Denning, Georgetown University professor and National
Security Agency consultant

(good lord, what a FANTASTIC quote! there is a god!)

``Phil seems very eager to let people believe what he wants them to
believe.  He likes to perpetuate the idea of his being a folk hero.''
--D. James Bidzos, President, RSA Data Securities Inc.

``Phil didn't invent the engine, but he did fit it inside the Ford.''
--David Banisar, analyst, Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility in Washington, D.C. 

``PGP has done a good deal for the practice of cryptology.  It's close
to my heart because it's close to my original objectives.''
--Whitfield Diffie, Sun Microsystems

``It's a great program. We recommend in our training to cops that they
use it to encrypt their stuff.''
--Sacramento computer expert William Sternow

``Phil showed that an ordinary guy just reading the papers that already
existed could put together an encryption system that the Nation
Security Agency could break "It took a certain amount of bravery to put
this out, because at the time the government was talking about
restrictions on cryptography.''
--John Gilmore, Cypherpunk founder

``Basically, we said, `What the fuck?' ''
--D. James Bidzos, President, RSA Data Securities Inc.

``I decided to give PGP away in the interests of changing society, which
it is now doing. The whole reason I got involved was politics. I did
not miss mortgage payments in the hopes of getting rich. Just look at
my bookshelf. I'm a politically committed person with a history of
political activism.''
--PRZ

``I respect copyrights. But what we're talking about there is a patent
on a math formula. It's like Isaac Newton patenting Force = Mass x
Acceleration. You'd have to pay royalty every time you threw a baseball.''
--PRZ

``I can't comment on the investigation.''
--William Keane, assistant U.S. attorney, San Hose

``The law just can't keep up with the technology. Somebody in Palo Alto
learns something, and pretty soon somebody in Moscow is going to know
about the same thing. There's nothing you can do about it.''
--PRZ lawyer Phil Dubois

``This is not a black-and-white issue to me.  The thought of a child
molester out there using PGP does keep me up at nights. I think the
benefits will outweigh the cost
to society, though.''
--PRZ

``In the nuclear freeze movement, it was like I was a flea on the back
of a dinosaur," he says. "Now I feel like I'm a hamster on the back of
a dinosaur. Or maybe a poodle.''
--PRZ