TVR%CCRMA-F4@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (03/09/87)
> I really can't see any reason to try to forbid the export of crypt(). > der Mouse Two reasons from the world of oxymorons: Military intelligence and civil servants. Rex Black If a military intelligence officer can't get a copy of the source for crypt() within about an hour, i'd say my tax dollars aren't being very well spent! (My Western European friends may need to allow a few extra days...) "Locks are to keep honest people honest", and maybe discourage an occasionaly petty thief.
DEBBE%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (03/10/87)
I doubt this belongs in Unix-wizards, but in the hope of forestalling any further mail on this topic I will tell you what my State Department (export control division) contact told me. There are generic categories of object which it is not permissible to export (supercomputers, fighter planes, crypto algorithms). Some things (CRAY's) need an individual export license for each instance to be shipped overseas. Other things can be approved as a class, at least for shipment to "friendly nations." But without someone who has a motive to do the paperwork, anything in these classes will remain legally unexportable, irrespective of the actual danger it may pose to America's security. It would therefore be a mistake to conclude that there is anyone in the US government who thinks that the Adversary does not know all about crypt() or numerous other exciting algorithms. On the other hand, I'm not saying there isn't someone... Matt Wilbert (c/o Debbe@oz.ai.mit.edu)
geller@eli.UUCP (David Geller) (03/11/87)
In article <4814@brl-adm.ARPA>, TVR%CCRMA-F4@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (Tovar) writes: > > I really can't see any reason to try to forbid the export of crypt(). > > If a military intelligence officer can't get a copy of the source for crypt() > within about an hour, i'd say my tax dollars aren't being very well spent! I read last week that the use of DES as a standard for encryption was being stopped by the NSA. I believe that I read this in Government Computer Week or some other rag. David Geller Electric Logic, Inc. Washington, D.C.
brunner@sri-spam.UUCP (03/11/87)
>(My Western European friends may need to allow a few extra days...)
Umm, having worked for three years in europe (western, I swear, western)
I feel that you are being unnecessarily generous...remember that crypt
was distributed broken for years and anyone who cared to decrypt his/her
own files...
One should bear in mind that this is the technology that protected the
Bismark, the UNIX rotor engine, not the DES engine.
When ATT was dickering with my former clients, the X/OPEN folks, then
the OPEN UNIX CLUB or BISON, they were a tad amusing in their serious
reservations concerning ex(1) and crypt(3). The BISON view was
"who cares if they don't get what they've already got",
from one or more German member companies...
Some more dated memories from yours truely...
--
how about a great big spidery "X"?