From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 10:45:51 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: A New Crypto Announcement--Could be Ominous
In-Reply-To: <v03007803aeb2869761df@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <328E0496.2C7C@gte.net>
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Timothy C. May wrote:
> (My traffic from the Cypherpunks list comes in bursts interspersed by long
> gaps, so I don't know if this has been reported. It seems significant to me.)
> A few excerpts:
> H-P ( Hewlett-Packard Co ) says RSA Data ( Security Dynamics Technologies
> Inc ) in codes deal
> PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov 15 (Reuter) - Hewlett-Packard Co. said Security
> Dynamics Technologies Inc's RSA Data Security Inc electronic encryption
> company is involved in its planned announcement Monday of new advance in
> encryption technology.
> Hewlett-Packard said technology the company's Chairman and Chief Executive
> Lewis Platt is due to detail at the National Press Club on Monday aims
> to resolve this roadblock in the use of electronic commerce over the Internet.
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^[emphasis added by Tim]
> Hewlett-Packard officials declined to give precise details, but said the
> technology has already received backing from the U.S. government and other
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> governments which it did not name, as well as major industry players.
> Senior executives of Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp are among those
> scheduled to make presentations on Monday, Hewlett-Packard said, but it
> declined to identify other companies whose technologies will be involved.
> It sounds ominous to me. Another backroom deal, probably for some form of
> key recovery strategy, aka GAK.

In my dealings with Platt's office, I discovered an interesting thing.
His staffers are retired people, who have no mailboxes at HP, and who
you reach only through a single individual, kinda like the concept of
compartmentalization used in military operations.

And believe me, that isn't the only peculiar thing going on there.

Let's just say that HP is a shrewd survivor in a sea of nasty predators.