Mats Bergstrom wrote:
Speaking of hi-tech related screen fanatsy I just saw an old (1992) movie starring Robert Redford, Dan Akroyd and Sidney Poiters (forgot - or never noticed - the title) with rather 'advanced' crypto ties. A professor of mathematics, specialist in primes, had constructed a 'black box' (containing a matchbox-sized chip) that could break all passwords in a few seconds. Lots of other fantastic machinery also. And the NSA had a big part. Somehow the manuscript seems to have been written by an author with some understanding of the implications of strong crypto. An ex-starving cypherpunk??
"Sneakers" was not an "old" movie..."old" is something I saw in 1960! 1992 is also the year Cypherpunks got started (Eric can elaborate, but I think he met a lot of the "Wired" planning team at a "Sneakers" sneak (ers) showing in San Francisco.) In any case, Len Adelman, the "A" in "RSA," was a technical advisor in the film. The pseudo-mathematical cant in the movie was probably provided by him. Not exactly an ex-starving Cypherpunk. (Adelman was also Fred Cohen's thesis advisor at the University of Southern California, and has done a lot of work on computer viruses.) --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Cypherpunks list: majordomo@toad.com with body message of only: subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tcmay