10-13-96. CoWo: "Encryption confusion" Reminded of the secret Clipper algorithm, I sought details from IBM. I asked a spokeswoman why the company hadn't just put out a nice, snappy white paper explaining its new approach to key recovery. "We spent three months trying to do that, quite literally," the spokeswoman said. "It's pretty confusing stuff, and whenever we get it on paper, we aren't happy with it." 10-12-96. InWe: "IBM Coalition May Not Fly" [Thanks, WR] "The relaxation on encryption is in many ways an extortion of industry," said Bob Gargus, president of the Atalla. "If this starts to happen for export, how many companies will be able to support two standards? I think every American should be worried." But Greg Simon, domestic policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore, said, "We're not looking for an answer that's universally popular. We're looking for a solution that's balanced and fair." 10-11-96. RDSN: "Bellcore Theory Affects Security" "Future applications, some theorize, that work on smart cards might work on your Pentium PC," says William Barr. Most smart cards use private key encryption, such as DES and RSA, making it all the more unlikely that Bellcore's theory would work on smart cards. However, the threat still should be investigated because the intention eventually is to use public key encryption for wireless communications and identification validation. "ABA: Banks Should Issue Cards" Only deposit institutions should issue smart cards, says the American Bankers Association. ----- http://jya.com/flynot.txt ftp://jya.com/pub/incoming/flynot.txt FLY_not