On Sat, 24 May 1997, Lucky Green wrote:
At 10:28 PM 5/24/97 -0400, Dave Emery wrote:
A three way encrypted handshake between an encrypted agent that was part of the OS and a smart card and software at an ISP could be used to enforce an internet drivers license law for example, with no packets being forwarded by the ISP without hard authentication (even up to biometrics) of the user. And it would be rather trivial to disallow use of "unapproved" software to communicate over the net, making enforcement of GAK much more complete. One could even use such a mechanism to forbid use of any uncertified software on a net connected machine, thus making it rather hard to use such rogue applications as PGP.
I strongly agree with you. While the motivation that lead to the development of such processors stems probably from the desire to thwart software piracy, it will make implementation of the "Internet Driver License" that much easier.
[For those new to Cypherpunks, I consider the requirement for an Internet Driver License as inevitable as the sun raising tomorrow morning. While the event is technically in the future, it will occur with a certainty that it may just as well have already happened in the past. Read the graphic novel "Watchmen" if you don't understand what I am talking about. Sure, there is a small but no-zero probability that the Earth will be vaporized before sunrise by a timebomb left by aliens 3.5 million years ago. That's why I wrote "as inevitable", as opposed to "inevitable".]
Well...they will TRY... If this kind of thing gets through without a huge fight from the public in general and the crypto community specifically, then we get exactly what we deserve. I will be heading for some quiet island at that point. All aboard for Vonuatu. (though I hear its not that quiet these days) 8-) Jim Burnes