From: lefty@apple.com
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 93 10:45:53 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Trapdoors
Message-ID: <9302181844.AA06137@apple.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Sandy Sandfort wonders:
>How do we know the proposed legislation wasn't just a smoke
>screen?  Isn't it possible that the Feds have already compromised
>Intel or MicroSoft?  Is there some way to be sure that the new
>486 chip running your computer isn't recording each PGP or RSA
>private key you generate?

No, nor do we having any particular way of knowing that Packard-Bell
doesn't install an extremely tiny person into each keyboard they sell,
studiously copying down each one of your key strokes.

How in the world would the computer's CPU be able to distinguish the
generation of a PGP or RSA private key from any other computation?

--
Lefty (lefty@apple.com)
C:.M:.C:., D:.O:.D:.