From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 95 23:18:59 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Solution for US/Foreign Software?
Message-ID: <acea846c10021004df03@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


jim bell proposes "crypto hooks":

>1.  Write a program with limited encryption (40 bit?), with the encryption
>module in a file external to the  main program.
>2.  Get export approval for this program.
>3.  Write a module which replaces the encryption file, increasing key size
>to whatever you REALLY wanted in the first place.  (128-bit IDEA, 2000-bit
>PGP, etc.)
>4.  Ship that new module with the old software to US customers.
>Naturally, that new module will "leak," so anybody who buys the old
>program out of the country can convert to a fully-functional version by
>downloading it from a foreign bbs that just happens to have it.  The
>module can be encrypted/signed by the manufacturer so everyone can be sure
>of its identity and genuineness.
>
>
>Better than nothing, I suppose.

"Crypto hooks," basically the scheme you are proposing, were thought of by
the authorities and are not a bypass of the crypto export laws.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."