This is in reference to the material direct from Jim Bidzos of RSA that I have posted, re: the charges that NSA is selling out to the Clipper scheme by licensing NIST to use their "patented algorithms" <snort> Quoth FutureNerd Steve Witham, verily I saith unto thee:
RELAX, fnerd! I almost sent you my new "Dear flamer" form letter, but I guess this deserves an answer. Please don't yell at me like this. My cautious conclusion from this and other discussions with Jim directly (at least I presume it is he; as I said before I get suspicious when the head of the worlds largest cryptography corp. does not use his own signatory authentication software), is that 1) RSADSI/PKP cares only for its bottom line. People like Jim Bidzos may care about stopping Clipper, but that is largely irrelevant in a corp. It's like your brain deciding it doesn't want food. Your body will go on craving food if you like it or not. 2) DSI is more-or-less anti-clipper, because it will hurt their biz in the long term. It is, being a typical corp., driven more by immediate profit motive; thus it calls bullshit on the Gov't violating their "patent", and thus accepting the deal when the govt "capitulates". In typical corporate double think, it does not see the blindinly obvious conflict of interests here. The weasel factor is likely the rationalization that key escrow does not equal clipper, which is true, though as we all know, they two are intertwined like snakes in a basket. 3) there is no conspiracy of PKP/RSA with NIST/NSA. It's just a product of commercial short-sightedness and even outright stupidity and illogic. 4) regardless of this, this move on the part of RSA is likely to be detrimental to the cause, and is dangerous. As for your other points: A) I am "sniffing" and I said this is a "cautious" conclusion, because all the evidence is not in. B) sniping is USEFUL. Ask any revolutionary. This is not a pitched battle, it is a guerilla war, a propaganda war, & a political cold war. C) it makes plenty of sense. My intent was to present the facts and material I find (for which I actually expected some thanks, imagine that! Who else among you bothered to make the effort to contact Big Jim personally and get their side of the story?), and to encourage people to think about it and weigh the data and "draw your own conclusions". I do not Know All in this matter, and did not wish to try to force my view on the whole. Furthermore, I think you are upset with the messenger, rather than concentrating on the message. All I am doing is saying, "Here I got this. It made me think. Look at it and think about it too." D) Yes there's a war on. But I am not Rambo, I'm the USAF journalist who doesn't feel like getting shot thank you very much ;) Note this is being passed on to the appropriate list and groups, in case others need this clarification. -- Stanton McCandlish * Space Migration * Networking * ChaOrder * NO GOV'T. * anton@hydra.unm.edu * Intelligence Increase * Nano * Crypto * NO RELIGION * FidoNet: 1:301/2 * Life Extension * Ethics * VR * Now! * NO MORE LIES! * Noise in the Void BBS * +1-505-246-8515 (24hr, 1200-14400, v32bis, N-8-1) *
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Stanton McCandlish