Crypto Policy Variant

[Timothy C. May]

At 11:17 PM 8/14/96, Frank Stuart wrote:

>Here's my key, your honor.  I used a one-time pad to do the encryption.  As
>you can plainly see, the encrypted file that the prosecution made such a big
>deal about contains nothing but some of my favorite verses from the King James
>Bible.  You shouldn't infer anything from the fact that another key would
>make the file contain the evil stuff that was alleged (even though it is a bit
>strange that the last verse ends in the middle of a word).

Frank presents a cogent example of how the Staelin plan is a nonstarter.
That is, it's a nonstarter *if* we remove any formal evidence of which
crypto method is attached to a program.

Cycles are cheap (compared to prison terms or a bullet in the head).
Therefore, it's cheaper to let folks either make their own guesses at the
crypto involved, or try several, than it is to unambigiously narrow down
the searches to one particular algorithm, which the State can then insist
on a decryption key for.

Let the Staelin Plan be warning for us to prepare for an era in which the
particular crypto method should not be revealed.

(Cryptographically, any of the various algorithms are "polynomially
equivalent," but, practically, the "King James Defense" used by Frank,
brilliantly, will probably work. It's hard to argue with Scripture.)

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay at got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."