Re: No SKE in Daytona and other goodies (fwd)

[paul@poboy.b17c.ingr.com (Paul Robichaux)]

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Tim May disses "that one guy" thusly:

> Oh please! Just how many times am I supposed to repeat my point that I make
> no claims that any imminent release of Chicago or Daytona or System 7.2 is
> likely to have SKE included? I've pointed out that the TIS algorithm is
> only now being coded, but that the *general field* of key escrow seems to
> involve some behind-the-scenes manouverings which should give us all pause.

No doubt. But what does the OS provider gain from including encryption
in the OS? At present, customers aren't demanding it. Why add SKE at
all when no one's asking for it?

Apple is able to export System 7 Pro right now because it uses 40-bit
RC2/RC4 for some limited client-server stream encryption. It won't do
file or disk encryption.

> The real issue is just how all the work on SKE described in the Denning
> conference coming up in September (the full agenda is posted in the crypto
> newsgroups) is to be implemented if *not* by the OS and system software
> vendors.

Remember that all these vendors want to sell OSes *and* to control the
future of that particular technology. I'd bet that MS At Work is where
Microsoft is most interested.

FWIW I agree with Tim: it's time to start asking the OS vendors some
hard questions. I'll volunteer to talk to Apple. Tim & Blanc Weber
seem to have good wires into Microsoft.

Bill Stewart's suggestion about shareholder resolutions is a good one,
too, for those who are shareholders of the various companies.

Finally, never forget the power of "divide & conquer"; if MS does
something unpalatable, that gives Novell, Apple, et al a reason _not_
to do that same thing.

- -Paul

- -- 
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG      | "Information is the currency of democracy."
perobich@ingr.com           |     - some old guy named Thomas Jefferson
	       Of course I don't speak for Intergraph.
	       

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