WSJ: IBM Corp. Compromises On Encryption Keys (fwd)

[mixmaster@obscura.com (Mixmaster)]

You might want to disregard the paranoid, irrelevant head and tail, but
the included article is very good, especially considering the establishment
source. Nice headline, for the WSJ.

Forwarded message:
> Have you heard of problems with the equations that Excel 95 generates when
> using the trendline analysis function in a chart? 

I haven't seen this, but because of all the math stuff on my web, I'm 
getting both phone calls and a lot of odd math feed back. We think we do 
have a real carry bit error between the Win 3.x and Win95. Some of the 
data I've reviewed is pretty scarry. Microsoft lost a lot of their older 
programmers over the past 3 years. It was literally an Exodis out. Now 
they have a lot of people that can't read the old code and this is a real 
mess. They also can't get anyone with much experience to work there. Here 
in Redmond good people just stay away. 

I saw this article today in Dow Jones and thought it might shed some 
light on the security issues.  I know what MS's 10 year strategy was
from 1990. Steve Ballmer is  the one making all the decisions on 
international markets. It's his baby. When I read this about IBM and 
Lotus all I could think of was Steve ordering the guys to make something 
exceptable for their license by the FED so they could gain market share 
over their competitors. This is just who he is. He doesn't understand the 
techincal issues and hasn't listened to Gates in years. MS is pretty 
thick with DC and must pay off lots of people there. That is what they 
were doing when I worked for their government group. It's weird working 
with the FED. They are all into their power groups. AND they are very low 
tech. I swear the FED is scrapping the bottom of the technical pool. The 
FBI is the worse. 
------------------------------------

1/18/96 IBM Corp. Compromises On Encryption Keys

By Thomas E. Weber
  Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
  NEW YORK -- International Business Machines Corp., caving in
to intense government pressure, agreed to include a special key
that helps investigators tap into data messages in return for
permission to export a more-secure version of its Lotus Notes
software.
  The U.S. has prevented software makers from exporting
sophisticated encryption technology for fear that terrorists and
other criminals would gain access to a snoop-proof
communications system. Industry observers said IBM's move marked
the first time a supplier agreed to give the government special
access to its software's security code.
  But other companies also are negotiating with the government
to find ways around export restrictions. Microsoft Corp., for
example, has been seeking industry support for a new scheme that
separates encryption technology from application programs so
that those products don't need export licenses.
  Encryption keys have stirred the concern of privacy experts in
the past. While IBM's Lotus Development Corp. software unit
defended the move as a stopgap compromise until a broader
agreement on data security can be reached, Notes creator Ray
Ozzie clearly found the controversial plan somewhat distasteful.
  "We were desperate enough to try to negotiate a short-term,
pragmatic solution," Mr. Ozzie said. "But we do not believe this
is the right long-term solution."
  One privacy advocate would agree. "The irreducible fact is
that foreign customers are reluctant to rely on security
products that have been compromised in some way" by federal
intelligence agencies, said Mike Godwin, staff counsel for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation.
  Several years ago the government proposed the "Clipper"
computer chip that was programmed to let investigators tap into
phone calls and data messages transmitted digitally. While that
plan died after privacy advocates accused the government of
trying to spy on users, the idea of leaving a back door open for
government agents has remained alive.
  Under the Lotus plan, government investigators would still
need to employ sophisticated code breaking to read messages sent
via Notes software, which lets users at different computers
collaborate. Security software encrypts information by using a
unique key of software code. The length of a key is measured in
computer bits, and longer keys are better -- they're more
complex and more difficult for wouldbe spies, not to mention
government agents, to unravel.
  Until now, to obtain an export license for Notes, Lotus has
been restricted to an encryption system of 40 bits in its
international version. Domestic users have been permitted to use
a higher-level, more-secure 64-bit system.
  The new overseas version of Notes, tagged Release 4, will give
foreign users 64-bit security. But to get permission to export
the software, Lotus agreed to give the government access to 24
of those bits by using a special 24-bit key supplied by the
National Security Agency.
  (END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-18-96
   6 02 A 

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Gates is the kind of person who will do just what they want if he gets
dicked with. He'll have a ranting fit (Gates is a functional autist) about
how stupid it is and then he will just get eccentric and say, give them
what they want with a grin. He is still a hacker at the core. You
understand the problem here. The FED is making them use lower security and
then patting them on the back and buying their products for our own
government and militery.  Gates use to brag that he would crash the fed. I
really believe he is still trying. NO ONE hates the FED more than GATES!
He was a page in DC at 17 and got a good taste of our government. I've had
it with these people too. DC is so discusting. All these attorneys who
don't know shit about anything but words and lying... 

Hey, I updated my web... : ) To day I filed an appearance in court and
fired my attorney. I'm still being dicked with here. If I don't look both 
way when I cross the street, I get busted. This week it was an unwanted 
touch. I touched someone's shopping bag getting into my car. Next week 
its an non-contact order by my daughter's guidence counselor. She 
considers a phone call from me about my daughter's possible college 
programs a threat! When I got the complaint it was totally nuts. 
Everything she knows about me is based on gossip. It reads like total 
hysteria. The way Microsoft has attempted to play me locally is really  
amazing. I was 40 when this started. Never had a problem before that. 
So when I say, 'Watch your back!' I mean it. : )

J~ http://www.halcyon.com/redrose/