RE: REAL WORLD ENCRYPTION

[qwerty@netcom.com (Xenon)]

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Pat Farrell wrote,

>I personally think stealth PGP is the wrong direction. Widespread, blatant
>acceptance of PGP by the 10 million PC users with modems will do more to
>guarantee the legality of PGP than all the CSPR petitions. (Hey, I sent in
>mine too, I just don't think that a few thousand voices will be heard).

First of all, you only seem to be considering the USA. Widespread
acceptance of PGP in some countries isn't going to happen. But it sure
would be nice to be able to talk to people in those countries.

Second, if Stealth-PGP not be "the solution" or "the right direction" then
realize that simply its presence would add great psychological power to our
words against Clipper. And also realize that Uncle Sam in a year from now
fully intends to obtain the technology to smart-search all electronic
communications for PGP messages. If we can show that even in times of
national emergencies or crime-wave scares, that having Clipper and the
FBI wiretap proposal there to rely on, is just a foolish waste of our money.

Third, I think the PGP developers are almost just as guilty as the Clipper
designers in trying to, behind closed doors, design us an encryptor. The
same encryptor for everyone. The Great Grand Solution to everyone's
needs. Stealth-PGP would be powerful in the hands of the small minority
who want to use it. You don't need 10 million other users to create the
"security through obscurity" condition. It's trivial to put 10 million PGP
users on a list, then draw lines between names to find groups of
"subversives", then with another button push in the bowels of the NSA,
start taping their phones.

Lastly, PGP has been out there for years. Where's the 10 million users?
You don't even have 10,000. And Microsoft has a cryptographic division now.
And Clipper is so easy to use! The big boys are getting involved, and PGP isn't
what 10-100 million people are going to be using, unless you port the thing to
Mac and Windows and make it as easy to use as a Clipper phone. The internet is
a small world. There's only 15 million e-mail users. Do you really expect to get
70% of them to start using PGP? When? In a year? Because you better, or
"Microsoft Encrypt" not to mention "SONY EncryptorMan" are coming within
a year or two. Time's running out for PGP. But Stealth-PGP is a timeless
technology, like fire or the handgun. Once it's made, someone 1000 years
from now can still use it to hide their encrypted message.

 -=Xenon=-

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