From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 94 12:06:26 PDT
To: matsb@sos.sll.se (Mats Bergstrom)
Subject: "Sneakers" and Len Adelman
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.85.9409251925.A2188-0100000@cor.sos.sll.se>
Message-ID: <199409251903.MAA22506@netcom16.netcom.com>
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Mats Bergstrom wrote:
> 
> 
> Speaking of hi-tech related screen fanatsy I just saw an old (1992)
> movie starring Robert Redford, Dan Akroyd and Sidney Poiters (forgot
> - or never noticed - the title) with rather 'advanced' crypto ties.
> A professor of mathematics, specialist in primes, had constructed a
> 'black box' (containing a matchbox-sized chip) that could break all
> passwords in a few seconds. Lots of other fantastic machinery also.
> And the NSA had a big part. Somehow the manuscript seems to have been
> written by an author with some understanding of the implications of
> strong crypto. An ex-starving cypherpunk??
> 

"Sneakers" was not an "old" movie..."old" is something I saw in 1960!
1992 is also the year Cypherpunks got started (Eric can elaborate, but
I think he met a lot of the "Wired" planning team at a "Sneakers"
sneak (ers) showing in San Francisco.)

In any case, Len Adelman, the "A" in "RSA," was a technical advisor in
the film. The pseudo-mathematical cant in the movie was probably
provided by him.

Not exactly an ex-starving Cypherpunk. (Adelman was also Fred Cohen's
thesis advisor at the University of Southern California, and has done
a lot of work on computer viruses.)

--Tim May

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