Date: Fri, 08 Nov 1996 17:16:00 -0800 From: Tom Weinstein <tomw@netscape.com> Organization: Netscape Communications, Inc. MIME-Version: 1.0 To: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Re: WebTV a "munition" Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com Precedence: bulk
Rich Graves wrote:
Eric Murray wrote:
Page 3 of the San Jose Mercury News has a small blurb about WebTV's browser/set-top box that "uses computer-security technology so powerful that the government is classifying it as a weapon that will require a special export license before it can be sold overseas".[...] shouldn't be too difficult. If they didn't use the "export" level SSL CipherTypes, then what're they up to? Are they fighting crypto export laws (for which they should be congratulated and supported) or are they just looking for free publicity?
Based on the lack of public policy pronouncements from the WebTV folks, I would answer C) They're clueless. I'm not sure that management even understood, or wanted to understand, that they'd have an export problem. See http://www.webtv.net/
Since Pablo Calamera works there, they can't be too clueless.
-- You should only break rules of style if you can | Tom Weinstein coherently explain what you gain by so doing. | tomw@netscape.com
To clarify a bit, we're not talking about SSL here. Also, some how it was infered by some readers of the article that we were astonished about the munitions classification of our product. We were not. Oh... and yes, we are not the least bit clueless (thanks Tom). Below is a company statement we released: The WebTV Network is currently using a 128 bit encryption system that gives our U.S. subscribers the most sophisticated security protection of any online service today. It is our intent to offer our customers the most secure environment for transactions and transmission with their WebTV Network service. Our units, sold by Sony and Philips, include a sticker that states that the product is not to be exported outside of the United States. However, the government restriction does not prevent us from exporting our product outside of the United States. WebTV Networks has always intended to announce its expansion plans in early 1997, providing global communication using either 40 bits, now authorized by the government, or 56 bits which Bill Clinton recently endorsed. Pablo ----------------------------------------- | Pablo Calamera | Security Architect | WebTV Networks, Inc. http://webtv.net/ | 305 Lytton Avenue | Palo Alto, CA 94301 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | mailto:pablo@corp.webtv.net | voice:(415) 614-2749 -----------------------------------------