On Tue, 01 Oct 1996 19:01:08 -0800, jim bell wrote:
Maybe Microsoft would be willing to help? After all, it is THEY who are going to be limited to DES-strength exports if things continue as they've been going. How about Intel?
Netscape would be a great choice as well - the Internet security market is *very* important. Microsoft has publically said that their cash flow model will work if they make NOTHING off of internet software of any sort. Compare this with the fortunes being spent on "Netscape Enterprise Server" or the like. They could issue press releases talking about how they have the software to keep your VISA secure but the USG isn't allowing them to use it! Microsoft would probably do anything the USG asked if, say, immunity from the DOJ was granted under the table. NTT is also a great choice, as you mentioned above. IBM, Sun, DG, Cray (a Silicon Graphics subsidiary?), etc. might go for some free publicity - I've seen a LOT of press releases out of IBM that talk about "blue-sky" research being done. Given that IBM lives because of big business, they also have a demonstratable interest. I'm sure they'd love to be able to advertise that the data you trust to DB2 (for instance) is entirely secure. The same argument works for DG. Also, IBM has a lot invested in chip fabrication facilities - there's got to be some extra capacity there! Sun has always seemed to be big on tech-demo type things. Cray - well that's obvious. The supercomputer market is heading toward massive parallelism. Leaching time looks interesting! # Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com> | http://www.io-online.com/adamsc/adamsc.htp # <cadams@acucobol.com> | send mail with subject "send PGPKEY" "That's our advantage at Microsoft; we set the standards and we can change them." --- Karen Hargrove, Microsoft (quoted in the Feb 1993 Unix Review editorial)