Re: Snake-Oil FAQ

[Sean Sutherland <seans@pobox.com>]

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To: wendigo@pobox.com, cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Wed Sep 18 18:54:08 1996
> I think a blacklist of that sort is inherently bad.  I would much rather
> have the public be able to RECOGNIZE SYMPTOMS of snake oil, rather than
> just be spoon fed a list of good products vs. bad products.  Pardon the
> cliche, but if you give a man a fish ... etc, etc.

Not only that, but you're also looking at a potential lawsuit, unless such 
a list were compiled and managed through the use of a nymserver.  Since 
there's no way, within reasonable limits, that a cryptogrpahic program can 
be proven bad, then a lawsuit is inevitable.  I could potentially see a 
list of products which have "methods which have been proven ineffective in 
securing data against determined attacks" such as DES, etc., but otherwise, 
it's just begging for trouble.
- ---
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