Re: Dorothy Denning

[smb@research.att.com]

	 Number 2.  People on this list have said that she's an expert in
	 cryptography. When I read that damned Newsday article posted on
	 cypherpunks, I thought that she was just a whiny college bitch. The
	 argument was just very, well, flimsy is the word I guess.  I believe
	 that Clipper is wrong, but someone could at least write a paper that
	 would influence more by pointing out its merits, rather than just
	 saying that the government should start spying on all of us to stop
	 drug deals....

	 Anyone know:

	 A) Is she an expert in cryptography?

	 B) Is she a college graduate?

Dr. Denning is the head of the computer science department at Georgetown.
She's the author of ``Cryptography and Data Security'', a classic (though
now somewhat-dated) work in the field.  In sort -- though she may be
politically naive, and she obviously puts a different weight on personal
liberty than do most of the people on this list -- she can't be accused
of technical incompetence.  There is no doubt that she knows more -- and
perhaps far more -- about cryptography per se than do most of the people
on this list.

And of course, you don't want to put cryptographic details in an Op-Ed
column in a tabloid newspaper; most of the audience won't understand them.