From: baum@newton.apple.com (Allen J. Baum)
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 16:52:42 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Can NSA crack PGP?
Message-ID: <9311230047.AA21065@newton.apple.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I'm not exactly sure why you care whether it's easy , hard, or impossible
for NSA to crack it. It probably isn't easy; it might be impossible.

But, there is one thing that is true about NSA's ability to crack it:
 they won't give you cause to know whether they can or not.

e.g., if they can, and they read some mail of yours that you REALLY don't
want them to read, they won't act on that information in such a manner that
you can determine that they cracked the code for your message. They
couldn't use it on a warrant, & they couldn't testify as to its contents in
court. To do so would advertise their capabilities, which is a no-no for
them. (they might, of course, use that information to point people in the
right direction so they can attribute information to an anonymous tip, but
they have to be careful even there)

Even now, when it's pretty certain they could crack DES, you won't
find them doing it for a law enforcement agency that asks; it gives away
too much.

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