-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Tim May wrote:

At 10:45 PM -0700 9/18/97, Wei Dai wrote:

...

3. A ban will eventually be lifted, because of the impracticality of GAK, abuses, wide-spread security problems caused by added complexity or hackers stealing the master keys, ineffectiveness, sympathetic courts etc. The sooner it comes into effect, the sooner it goes away.

You mean like the way the ban on drugs was impractical and could be skirted in various ways, forcing the ban on drugs to "go away"?

I understand alcohol is legal now, so it worked once for one drug. The drugs ban isn't all that meaningful, anyway. You can go into any major U.S. city without any connections and score crack within three hours if you look the part and know what you are doing. I've known many drug users and abusers over many years and none have gone to jail. Software doesn't weigh anything and it doesn't take up much space. Trafficking is trivial. The flow of tools will not stop. What will stop is open development by the software industry and this will cause irreparable damage. Fortunately, the industry does form a wealthy constituency. If it becomes clear that restricting particular classes of algorithm significantly hampers business, look to seeing these bans lifted. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.html -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNCLpz5aWtjSmRH/5AQHLYQf/URPsSEUvvIGlioJ3LskpY+G4zIuq6v7K M/m2bTtMxFy7aUNRR/KgxIE6Up3F3TwBYOSFp5+8cMjiKqMYzJvIjPjtpy6iJszC 8PF7z9ohUREQDRIwz4s/41R5uG4zaHDepfAFgZXgA/WP5EbwoiiaNWYWY2M2CKnf K3pCbet3UzOR7HjAzUrYEZNDyqSGV5vb599WCYGfGiL+rpsXHoT9b0dNIF91FeYr Qzji7KiXzDzVin0jcw9NF5W7jphQ2rC6xAM3Rjjd6FGYo+GWqKpSzVIUtvB9ow30 NWkLPNCIFxqcM5tADIJWWuGEdyHSsvG9jqj5FGx0qveaBArwG+fkYg== =z5Dc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----