From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 13:07:15 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Where are the cryptographers going to come from?
Message-ID: <199606042100.OAA11210@mail.pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 03:22 PM 6/4/96 -0000, nelson@crynwr.com wrote:
> The NSA believes that they
>can and should discard any amount of benefits of crypto in exchange
>for avoiding any harm of crypto.  They are wrong.

I think the truth is even more revealing.  We can hypothesize that 
allowing widespread use of good crypto has many advantages and just a few 
disadvantages.  However, those disadvantages may almost all accrue to 
government and its employees, and very few to ordinary citizens.   This 
means that talking up the disadvantages of good encryption is doubly 
fraudulent, because the audience they should be trying to convince (ordinary 
folks) doesn't realize that the disadvantages generally don't apply to them. 
 And of those few crimes against ordinary citizens where crypto might play a 
role, that role will almost always be to PREVENT the crime rather than allow 
it.

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com