IP: Encryption Expert Says U.S. Laws Led to Renouncing of Citizenship

[Tim May]

At 3:01 AM -0700 9/7/98, Mok-Kong Shen wrote:
>Robert Hettinga wrote:
>>
>> Sameer Parekh, the president of the Web server company C2 Net, said:
>> "I think it's essential if you want business that you're doing your
>> development overseas. It's pretty clear to anyone internationally that
>> anything exportable [from the United States] is a joke."
>
>Let's wait and see whether AES will be genuinely exportable.
>

If it's as strong as it is supposed to be, e.g, much stronger than 3DES for
example, then OF COURSE it will not be exportable.

However, the neat thing about such a standard, with the algorithm carefully
described and published, is that many can implement it. There should be no
particular need to "export" implmentations out of the U.S. when so many
European and Asian and Carribbean folks will be implementing it and
embedding it in other applications.

(I don't follow AES stuff, so I may be missing some details, such as how
licensing (barf) will work. Maybe, like IDEA, implementors will be supposed
to seek a license. If so, then maybe implementors will have to go to
whomever controls the process, such as NIST, and request a license.
Probably NIST will deny a license to Hezbollah Cryptography Company. And so
it goes.)

I can't get too excited about AES. Plenty of ciphers out there. Which
cipher handles the high-speed stuff inside an app like PGP is not of great
concern to me. Especially since the speed of ciphers is less important for
the kind of political messages which interest me.

(I'm not belittling work on AES. It's both important for various network
uses, and interesting in its own right. Just not to me.)

--Tim May

"The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of
tyrants...."
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   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.