From: Tim Scanlon <tfs@vampire.science.gmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 95 17:37:33 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: ftp://www.brooks.af.mil/pub/unix/utils/des.tar
In-Reply-To: <9509191440.AA18495@tis.com>
Message-ID: <9509200037.AA01721@vampire.science.gmu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



I can second that notion. There are a good many people
in all sorts of sectors of the government who can easily
be brought to frothing over Mr. Freeh & his pals at the NSA's
position on weak security systems. They like weakness, and
anyone with two brain cells to rub together who's interested
in good security rather rapidly end up coming to the
conclusion that the FBI and the NSA aren't doing them any
real favors.

Basicly IMHO, Tim May called it right when he said they're more
interested in snooping than securing. I've belived that
for a long, long time now. It still manages to annoy me
seriously whenever I think about it.

The vulnerabilities that most military systems suffer from
are both staggering and frightening, and it is criminal
that the NSA has so seriously abrogated it's security
role in the public and private sectors. I personaly belive
it's going to take a rather massive info-terrorist
attack before the control-freak crowd that's driving
weak security takes a back seat. Worms from Lybian
programmers anyone?

Strong cryptographic systems are an integral part of
strong security systems. The recent netscape crack
shows why you can't have one without the other pretty
well.

If good security means cedeing some percived control
over your populace, you should probably be examining
wether your populace wanted your to control them in
the first place it seems to me.

Unfortunalty the anti-security crowd is firmly in control
of the organs of the government, and does a damn good job
spreading it's propaganda to dupes in the press. Stuff
like the recent kneejerk "CyberPorn" crap and governmental
actions & reactions in that area towards limiting civil
liberties and security technology are great examples of it.

Meanwhile, I think the US is starting to slip behind the
curve in software technology for encryption & the like...
This will probably prove intresting in the future, especialy
if the CPU tossed at key escrow & the like turns up more
surprises.


Tim Scanlon


________________________________________________________________
tfs@vampire.science.gmu.edu (NeXTmail, MIME)  Tim Scanlon
George Mason University     (PGP key avail.)  Public Affairs
I speak for myself, but often claim demonic possession