Re: PGP, Inc.--What were they thinking?

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 3:08 PM -0700 10/22/97, spencer_ante@webmagazine.com wrote:
>With all due respect to Tim May:
>
>As a person whose been at work on a very long feature about PGP Inc. for
>Wired, I can tell you that businesses really don't care that much about
>PGP's civil liberties advocacy. In fact, its rep could hurt as much as help
>them. The Fortune 500 is much more pragmatic: They want solutions that

I agree that the civil liberties side of PGP is of no interest to
corporations...in fact, it scare them a great deal. Talking about how Hamas
is using PGP to communicate so that the Zionist entity government cannot
successfully wiretap the freedom fighters is not something IS managers like
to hear about.

I agree that PGP, Inc. is apparently recasting itself as a supplier to IS
departments and bean counters.

>work, that help them maintain security for their intellectual property and
>capital. To that extent, PGP 5.5--which enables IS directors to manage a
>public key infrastructure and enforce company-wide security policies-- is a
>step in the right direction.
>
>But with this new product, I agree that they run the risk of alienating
>their core user group of cypherpunks and hackers. Encryption is a very
>complicated topic that doesn't lend itself well to sloganeering and
>histrionics. And one major thing that needs to be pointed out: PGP's key

If you are implying that my words are "sloganeering and histrionics," I
think you're way off-base.

I suggest you start reading the points being debated in more detail, and
think about the deeper issues.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."