Re: Explaining crypto to people (was Re: A new Swiss banking novel)

["Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>]

On Tue, 5 May 1998 18:28:46 -0500 (CDT), Xcott Craver wrote:

>Again, my point.  Padlocks and safes are *not* under the gun,
>	so to speak.  People will not see crypto regulation as silly
>	if they keep getting fed bomb and gun analogies.  They'd think
>	it was damned silly if they got padlock and safe analogies.

The analogy of crypto =  padlock lack something.

A padlock can *always* pried open.  A court order can always be issued to open it.
So Joe Enforcment will be on it's way with it's crowbars, liquid N2, saws and/or torches and do his 
duty.  It will be no loss of time to him.

Strong encryption is different.  No matter what Joe Enforcment try, the crypto lock won't give away 
(well, at least, this is what we assume here).  Working on it means just one thing: absolute waste 
of ressources.

AFA Joe Enforcement is concerned, a gun has some of the same potentiality: try to force it and 
you also risk an absolute waste of ressources.  From a human standpoint, it might look different, 
but if you make abstraction of human life (like most dictators do), some of the effects are similar.

Ciao

jfa




Jean-Francois Avon, Pierrefonds (Montreal), Canada
Unregistered Firearms in the hands of honest citizens: Liberty's Teeth
Strong Cryptographic tools in the hands of honest citizens: Liberty's Voice
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