crypto confrontation

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

regarding the NIST policies on cryptography being shaped at this
moment, an idea occurred to me.

one of the most important aspects of protest is getting the public
to be on your side. right now the american public is pretty indifferent
about the cryptography issue, but there could be some very graphic
situations that would help bring it out into the limelight even
more than it is at the moment, and make anyone promoting government 
key escrow seem like the bad guys.

the minor protest going on with the Perl t-shirts is really fantastic
(last count, ~700 shirts out the door), but what really brings an
issue to the forefront of american consciousness (i.e. the media)
is *confrontation*.

picketers in front of buildings clashing with police is almost 
guaranteed to get a little media coverage, almost no matter what
the issue.

now, some day we might reach this point with crypto rights. it would
be quite a spectacle. (I'm sure people would argue against it here,
but IMHO even a simple demonstration of a few dozen people might
do more for widespread public consciousness of the issue than a
million lines of code on an FTP site..)

--

in the meantime here's another possibility:

suppose that a software company intentionally set up a situation where
they are exporting a cryptographic algorithm out of the country. and
they have filming crews on hand when the bad-guy customs agents or
whoever stop the truck at the border and confiscate the software. have the 
reporters asking questions like "why are you confiscating this"? "answer: this
is classified a munition". 

this could really be a fantastic segment for Hard Copy or any of the
other trashy tabloid shows. just a confrontration for confrontation's
sake, with nothing resolved, just a lot of people pissed off at each
other, and the end result the viewer coming away saying, "what a disgrace!!
somebody should do something!!"

I mean, imagine a segment where you see the customs officers pointing
guns at a truck driver or whatever (that would *really* be optimal), and
them breaking into the truck to pull out the software. the reporter
could say, "what's so deadly that's in the box??" and pull out a computer
disk. 

sound bites of people outside the country saying how they want to use
the crypto. a nice businessman in a tie, in the middle of an office
with hardworking suits and ties.
"we're not criminals!! we're trying to *protect* ourselves
from criminals!! but your government won't let us!!"  other sound bites:
joe sixpack goes and buys crypto package from Germany because he doesn't
have to put up with illegality and uncle sam. shots of massive Microsoft
and an executive or programmer complaining 
how they can't put the code they want to in their programs, that
users *want*, that would solve these horrible hacker problems that the
country is having,  because uncle sam is interfering.

other scenes: businessmen calculating how much the U.S. software market
(which, BTW, we are premiere in the world in) has already lost in
sales, or could potentially lose on the information highway. "my
company personally had [x] ready but could not release it. [y] was
delayed [z] years for approval. we estimate we have lost [a] and
have had to hold off hiring as much as [b] people". (the actual numbers
should be as close to reality as possible, but from a PR point of view
don't even matter!!)

much made of how the Internet committees are now ignoring the US 
recommendations that require escrowed crypto. "the U.S. may ironically become 
only a inconsequential rest stop on the information superhighway of the future"
much FUD about how the US could become a "backwater in cyberspace" 
because of these policies. etc!!  lots of hype about how cyberspace
will become the very basis of future global economies, and that anybody
who opts out will be slitting their own throat. also, crypto being absolutely
essential to secure transactions.

in fact, if we play this right we could even get a new kind of 
semi-conventional wisdom into that easily-manipulated thing called
the public consciousness: "hackers can be foiled by good crypto.
the government is killing good crypto. therefore hackers are proliferating
because of the government!!"

plus, you could throw in the Phil Zimmermann thing too, although that
might be overdoing it. as for all the bill of rights angle and those
kinds of things, those could be put in there, but remember that people
generally hate lawyers <g>

--

actually, I'm actually rooting for PRZ to be indicted. an acquittal would
be extremely costly, but it could really bring the key issues to the 
forefront of the american or even world consciousness. hell, it would
beat the OJ trial any day in my book!! and in fact it might be just
the ticket to the kind of mainstream journalism that could really
tip the balance of public opinion. (the press is pretty sleazy, I 
admit, but it is a *monster* machine that one might be able to
trick into working for you!! in fact, I would consider that quite the
ultimate hack in social engineering!! any weenie hacker can con a
phone repairman, but can you trick the whole U.S. media system into
telling the public what you want it to hear? sounds like a real 
challenge to me!!)

and BTW, I am aware of how DJBernstein and others have various lawsuits
and FOIAs against the government. but I don't think these are really
penetrating Joe Sixpack's brain, when that is really where the battle
lies. and Joe Sixpack doesn't understand esoteric things like the
bill of rights, the constitution etc.-- but he does understand pictures
of police confronting someone who doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong 
and is arguing in favor of something good for america.

you might think, "what does public opinion have to do with government?"
answer: a lot. if in a public poll, a large majority were in favor of
releasing crypto regulation, you can bet that the "which way is the
wind blowing NOW?!?!?!" politicians (that is, all of them, <g>)
would be scrambling to appease the public. even Clinton has a long
record of merely going with what is politically expedient. I can fully
imagine him defying key law-enforcement agencies if the public was
more in support of good crypto.

and, if we can get scenes like what I'm talking about, that day may
become a reality. I continue to believe that the way to really hammer
the issue and get what we want may amount to a kind of "psychological
terrorism": "propaganda" on television that promotes our cause to joe
sixpack, and simply honestly tells what is at stake. (that's the 
beauty of our position, is that even the simple truth is very powerful
propaganda-- in fact that's how you can generally tell if you are on
a side that is likely to win in the long run!!).

there are many here who will argue for less confrontational approaches,
about not getting anyone upset, about not trying to paint anyone as
a bad guy, about just opting out of a "hopeless" political process, about how
the whole US system is so screwed up anyway that we're all pretty
much screwed when it comes down to it, etc. ad nauseaum, ...

but IMHO a pound of nonconfrontration is worth a feather of confrontation
in the long run. and I continue to believe the confrontation, while
a bit messy and unpleasant at times, will really get the ultimate result
that we want: (1) widespread public consciousness on the issue, 
(2) widespread support of our side.

again, the code distribution is great, but in the long term, I continue
to believe that public opinion is ultimately what runs a government,
and a tyrannical government cannot exist without the tacit support of
the population. 

I applaud the Perl t-shirt sellers for their great victory but suggest
that greater victories lie in waiting. how about a demonstration of
a bunch of people wearing the shirts, for starters?


--Vlad Nuri