At 09:26 97/11/16 -0700, Tim May wrote:
At 9:35 AM -0700 11/16/97, Joichi Ito wrote:
At 09:02 97/11/14 -0700, Tim May wrote:
And, almost immediately, the Japanese RSA chip became "unavailable." A longterm Cypherpunk, who can speak up if he desires to, had a few of these chips in the U.S. before the NSA ordered Chobetsu/MITI to halt export (and probably even to halt internal use in products developed for export). He told me the chips had suddenly become "unavailable," with no apparent prospects for them _ever_ becoming available. The stooges in Nippon listen when their masters speak.
It was for this longterm Cypherpunk that I looked into the RSA export issue and gave them the recommendation. It is likely that some pressure from the US government is being put on Japanese ministries such as MITI, but there are certain government agencies that aren't as exposed to US pressure who also have domestic political strength. Also, I looked into the "Chobetsu" that you refered to in a previous message and I think you are refering to the "Naikaku Chosashitsu Betsushitsu" which is the group that engages in the often rather shady "super-legal" actions like stamping out political parties and going after cults. I don't think they have any direct involvement in the current RSA issue and I wouldn't call them "Japan's NSA." They are more like some kind of secret police. (I can already image the kind of messages I'm going to receive on this list for engaging with you at this level of dialog, but for the benefit of some of the lurkers, I think it's worth it...) My point is, you are probably right that there is some activity by groups like the NSA putting pressure on exposed parts of Japanese government to stifle export of crypto. But... the current Japanese government is not as organized as you might think and there are many different groups with different opinions. I don't think it is necessary to write off all Japanese as stooges. Also, I disagree that there is "no apparent prospects for them _ever_ becoming available." This is not true. There is quite a bit a dialog going on in Japan about US pressure on Japan, US "information imperialism" and about those groups within Japan who are listen to the US. Some of the Japanese who have been speaking up against US policy have begun being labeled as "right-wing nationalists". (Which is probably better protection in Japan than being called a "left-wing liberal.") In any case, there is a fight going on inside Japan which isn't just a show. So much of what you are saying is true in a general sense, but there are still a lot of unresolved issues in Japan worth fighting for if anyone is interested in looking into the detail. I personally think that the impact of Japan's actions is great enough so that it might be worth engaging rather than just writing us off.
to regulate or restrict an activity without a clear and easy to understand process and documentation. MITI's current method of "case-by-case" export permission could technically be viewed as a breach of this law/regulation. Also, the "Gyousei Tetsuzuki Hou" has time limits for ministries to respond to requests. I have informed RSA that they could take MITI to court on this one, but as far as I know, they haven't. So, yes, Japanese stooges were involved, but companies such as RSA haven't taken advantage of their legal position in pushing the export of their products from Japan.
RSA the company may have various reasons for not pushing the issue too hard. For one thing, pissing off the NSA (even more) may cut into business contracts. For another, designing the Japanese chip into products could be a dangerous thing, if the supply is uncertain (and winning one court battle in Japan may not ensure continued supplies). Finally, recall that I publically described threats by NSA agents to have Bidzos "run over in your parking lot."
Well, I can understand that Mr. Bidzos doesn't want to get run over in the parking lot, but don't you think strong crypto for the world is more important? Why doesn't he buy a gun and sue MITI. ;-P - Joi P.S. I can already see this message going down in a flurry a flames. Although I'm getting used to ignoring irrelevant messages and taking cheap shots at Tim when I have the chance, I'm still not sure if the risk of engaging in dialog "out in the open" is worth the net reputation capital earned after all of the mud is slung. Also, I'm not sure whether giving away all of my tactics just to win an arguement is worth it. Maybe it is better to save those rounds for the real fight. My point is, if people on this list are really going to do anything about crypto I'll continue to weather the attacks and engage in dialog with you. If the point of this list is to just beat each other up and talk about how bad it all is, then I'm going to give up. -- PGP Key: http://pgp.ai.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x2D9461F1 PGP Fingerprint: 58F3 CA9A EFB8 EB9D DF18 6B16 E48D AF2A 2D94 61F1 Home Page: http://domino.garage.co.jp/jito/joihome.nsf To subscribe to my personal mailing list send mailto:friends-subscribe@ji.to