From: Bruce Schneier <schneier@counterpane.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 05:47:07 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: British Ministers Adopt Unbreakable Crypto
In-Reply-To: <199801152113.NAA15458@comsec.com>
Message-ID: <199801192139.PAA16260@mixer.visi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> 
>LONDON (AP) -- It's a briefcase even James Bond could love.
> 
>Britain's more adventurous Cabinet ministers soon will be spiriting
>laptop computers inside their signature ``Red Box'' briefcases,
>complete with fingerprint recognition systems and silent alarms.
>
[.....]
>
>``There is even a duress finger,'' Rushworth said. ``That is for if a
>terrorist or gunman has a gun to the minister's head forcing him to
>open the computer. It will appear to function normally but doesn't,
>and sends a silent alarm to the Cabinet Office.''

This is INSANE.  How could someone be so stupid as to announce
such a feature in a newspaper.  I guess this means that if a
terrorist sees a Cabinet minister with such a computer, he had
better shoot to kill.

The whole point of a feature like this is that its existence is secret.
Someone is NOT paying attention.

Bruce
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Bruce Schneier, President, Counterpane Systems     Phone: 612-823-1098
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