At 5:33 PM 7/9/96 -0700, Wei Dai wrote:

On Tue, 9 Jul 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:

...

ObCrypto: When may a minor child say no to PAK (Parental Access to Keys)?

Interesting threat model... What can one do in the total absense of physical security? We've talked about mental cryptography before, but I think we agreed that it isn't very practical. Perhaps security through obscurity is a better solution here, since many parents are less computer literate than their children.

Steganography still seems to be useful. However, I don't think total absence of physical security will last for long. Soon school children will be carrying their own portables, the way they now carry calculators. They will have private time alone with the hardware the same way their parents will. Parents and children divided into "armed camps" has always been a lousy way to run a family. Computers are just a new battle ground for families that chose to run that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The Internet may fairly be | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | regarded as a never-ending | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | worldwide conversation. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA