From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 22:05:07 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: New Crypto Application
In-Reply-To: <199707272124.PAA12529@xmission.xmission.com>
Message-ID: <99yJae4w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Guillotine <guill@xmission.com> writes:

> Greetings fellow Cyphers...

I guess that doesn't include me, but greetings anyway.

> I'm creating a new _text_ cryptography program.

Will a user be able to uuencode a binary file and pretend that it's text?

> The encryption algorithm,
> using a symmetrical is going to be as strong as legally allowed,

Better hurry - there are no legal restrictions in the U.S. on how hard you can
make it for internal use, but that may change soon.

> and after
> copyrighting the program,

It's copyrighted the moment you've written it. Some people spend $10
on registering their copyright with the Library of Congress. You can
even file your source code there.

> I'm going to release the source code and explain
> everything about it (since it can be reverse engineered anyways).

That's a commendable idea. However if your program will use reasonable
strng encryption, you should talk to a knowledgeable lawyer before
publishing it in a way which might be construed as "exporting" it.

> The
> reason I'm sending this e-mail to you is my request for more knowledge, and
> if you're like me, then you have an extreme thirst for knowledge!

You sound like you could use some.

[snip]
>                        I was going to call the program AlphaNumeric
> Encryption, but that says pretty much nothing...  I might just call it
> something like Cipher Pad (or Cypher Pad if nobody cares that I use
> "cypher") , since it's only for text encryption.  If you have a better idea
> for a name for this program, then please suggest it to me.

How about "One-Time Sanitary Pad"?

(Note to the list: I have been having little problems indeed (some of my
systems hacks for OS/2 no longer working under Microsquish) but they're
almost entirely fixed or rewritten now.  Microsquish sucks indeed. I'm
glad I have a backup OS/2 box.)

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps