Cluelessness V.S. Lack of Knowledge

[Alan Olsen]

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In the snake oil controversy, I see a couple of issues...

There are some people/companies out there who have the attitude
that they have some sort of "remarkable achievement in the
field of cryptography".  In fact, it is SO remarkable that they
do not have to submit to any sort of peer review or examination
by people with more skill in the field than themselves.  Some
of this can be explained by being too close to the problem to
see any of the flaws.  Most of it can be attributed to ego.
These people are pretty much hopeless.  They can be a great
source of entertainment and/or flame fest practice, but rarely
do they ever learn by their mistakes.  Their ego gets in the
way far to often.  (IPG Sales (any relation to "Soupy"?) is a
prime example of this.)

There are companies out there that are trying to build good
products.  These people can be instructed on the ways of
implementing good crypto.  Unfortunately, I have seen a number
of them pushed up against the "Wall of Attitude" when they do
ask for help.  Cypherpunks, for good or for bad, have a
reputation for being experts in the field.  People come here to
ask questions because "Cypherpunks know what Good Crypto tastes
like".  What is happening though is that they are also getting
a reputation as people who flame first and give answers later,
if ever.  This is not a "good thing".  If you want strong
crypto to exist, you have to make the people who are trying to
put it into place able to understand what it is in the first
place.  Giving them grief when they try to find out the flaws
in the ideas (and are willing to learn) is not helpful to the
community as a whole.

I know of one developer who is trying to implement a strong
cryptosystem in his app.  He is unwilling to post his
questions/concerns here because he is afraid of getting his ass
shot off on the first query.  Judging by some of the responses
I have seen, I do not blame him!  I can understand intolerance
of the sales droids who push crap.  I do not have much
tolerance for them either.  It bothers me when I see people who
are not experts in the field AND ARE TRYING TO LEARN getting
"blowed up real good" because they are not experts.

Cypherpunks not only need to teach, they need to be willing to
teach.
 


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Alan Olsen -- alano at teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction
        `finger -l alano at teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key 
                http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ 
  "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon
"I, Caligula Clinton... In the name of the Senate and the people of Rome!"
   - Bill Clinton signing the CDA with the First Amendment bent over.