I've been putting off responding to the WestWord Zimmermann article immediately to digest the spectacular prose -- This is a FANTASTIC article! It *almost* surpasses Markoff for sheer color and technical mastery! (<g>) This is INCREDIBLE propaganda for the cypherpunk cause. E. Dexheimer writes like he is a cypherpunk list subscriber! We have *everything*: *pricelessly* memorable quotes by Gilmore, Bidzos, Denning, Zimmermann, Diffie, Rotenberg. We have a mention of the Cypherpunks. We have the NSA. Dexheimer has a *dazzling* nose for the essential areas and most momentous, and cutting quotes. A few points to be made. First, it brings deals with the PGP-pedophile aspect head on and in an ultimately redeeming way. We have to face that concealing criminal behavior is very intrinsic to cryptographic techniques, but, as PRZ says, the bottom line is:
He also concedes that, despite what law enforcement officers say about him being irresponsible for publishing PGP he is trouble by people who use the software for unsavory purposes. The William Steen case, for instance, unnerved him. "This is not a black-and-white issue to me," Zimmermann says. "The thought of a child molester out there using PGP does keep me up at nights. I think the benefits will outweigh the cost to society, though."
This is characteristic of the article's outstanding balance. Virtually every point of contention is mapped out in critical detail on both sides. Another example of this is how PRZ rebuts claims of the software being for personal profit as saying he `has a history of political activism'. Other amazingly ironic observations in the article stand out. Perhaps the most damaging quote is completely nullified by a later element of the story: "Phil Zimmermann? He's a dirtbag," spits out Brian Kennedy, the detective who headed up the Steen investigation. "He's an irresponsible person who takes credit for his invention without taking responsibility for its effect. He's protected people who are preying on children. I hope that someday he'll get what he deserves." Later the ``California computer-crime expert William Sternow called in on the case'' says:
In perhaps the greatest testimony to Zimmermann's program, even those who condemn the programmer for irresponsibly releasing PGP continue to use his software. "It's a great program," concedes Sacramento computer expert Sternow. "We recommend in our training to cops that they use it to encrypt their stuff." Sternow estimates that more than 500 law enforcement officers currently use PGP.
So we have the stark irony that the `authorities' simultaneously condemn and praise Zimmermann -- the former when it obstructs their job, the latter when it aids it. The other main point to be made is that the author has an *extraordinary* grasp of the public key and RSA technology (and virtually every other aspect of the entire complex story). In fact, his technical description for the layman is so masterful I simply find it hard to believe Dexheimer has not had previous exposure to the topic. The quotes are absolutely so sterling I *have* to cut them out. Cypherpunks, please stick 'em in your signatures. Finally, regarding the posting, does anybody know anything about all those groups that were listed by `S. Boxx'? I think I might have been the first to come up with `CRAM' (in a satirical post on the NY cybertax) but all those others I thought were disconnected. It looks like the person is just throwing in a lot of sinister-sounding labels to upset the police and NSA! a little electronic graffiti! One other thing -- why is a Colorado newspaper breaking that California Steen case wide open? Isn't there any press reports on it in California? Why haven't we seen any from you lazy CA cypherpunks, anyway? <g> ===cut=here=== ``The task was given to us to decrypt this stuff. And to this day we have not been able to do it.'' --William Sternow, California computer-crime expert. (yeah, right -- a `computer crime expert' has a chance at discovering a polynomial-time factoring algorithm!) ``Phil Zimmermann? He's a dirtbag. He's an irresponsible person who takes credit for his invention without taking responsibility for its effect. He's protected people who are preying on children. I hope that someday he'll get what he deserves.'' --Brian Kennedy, Sacramento head detective. ``I get mail from people in the Eastern Bloc saying how much they appreciate PGP-- `Thanks for doing it.' When I'm talking to Americans about this, a lot of them don't understand why I'd be so paranoid about the government. But people in police states, you don't have to explain it to them. They already get it. And they don't understand why we don't.'' --PRZ ``PGP could potentially become a widespread problem.'' --Dorothy Denning, Georgetown University professor and National Security Agency consultant (good lord, what a FANTASTIC quote! there is a god!) ``Phil seems very eager to let people believe what he wants them to believe. He likes to perpetuate the idea of his being a folk hero.'' --D. James Bidzos, President, RSA Data Securities Inc. ``Phil didn't invent the engine, but he did fit it inside the Ford.'' --David Banisar, analyst, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility in Washington, D.C. ``PGP has done a good deal for the practice of cryptology. It's close to my heart because it's close to my original objectives.'' --Whitfield Diffie, Sun Microsystems ``It's a great program. We recommend in our training to cops that they use it to encrypt their stuff.'' --Sacramento computer expert William Sternow ``Phil showed that an ordinary guy just reading the papers that already existed could put together an encryption system that the Nation Security Agency could break "It took a certain amount of bravery to put this out, because at the time the government was talking about restrictions on cryptography.'' --John Gilmore, Cypherpunk founder ``Basically, we said, `What the fuck?' '' --D. James Bidzos, President, RSA Data Securities Inc. ``I decided to give PGP away in the interests of changing society, which it is now doing. The whole reason I got involved was politics. I did not miss mortgage payments in the hopes of getting rich. Just look at my bookshelf. I'm a politically committed person with a history of political activism.'' --PRZ ``I respect copyrights. But what we're talking about there is a patent on a math formula. It's like Isaac Newton patenting Force = Mass x Acceleration. You'd have to pay royalty every time you threw a baseball.'' --PRZ ``I can't comment on the investigation.'' --William Keane, assistant U.S. attorney, San Hose ``The law just can't keep up with the technology. Somebody in Palo Alto learns something, and pretty soon somebody in Moscow is going to know about the same thing. There's nothing you can do about it.'' --PRZ lawyer Phil Dubois ``This is not a black-and-white issue to me. The thought of a child molester out there using PGP does keep me up at nights. I think the benefits will outweigh the cost to society, though.'' --PRZ ``In the nuclear freeze movement, it was like I was a flea on the back of a dinosaur," he says. "Now I feel like I'm a hamster on the back of a dinosaur. Or maybe a poodle.'' --PRZ