From: "Brian B. Riley" <brianbr@together.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 15:30:29 -0800 (PST)
To: <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: Deniable Cryptography [was winnowing, chaffing etc]
Message-ID: <199803282330.SAA11522@mx02.together.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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On 3/28/98 5:53 PM, mgraffam@mhv.net (mgraffam@mhv.net)  passed this
wisdom:

>In this case, I figure that their best option is to beat Alice 
>everyday forever or until she dies. Whichever comes first.
>
>The longer they beat her, the better chance there is that she broke 
>down and gave them her most important secrets. Even if she can't 
>prove it.. so what? The rubber-hose group isn't exactly the boy 
>scouts. They beat her the next day too, this time a little harder.
>
>Alice may hold up, she may not.. I don't really see the 
>cryptosystem helping here. You can't win a game when the other 
>player doesn't use your rules. You have to use the same set of 
>rules. We know that the rubber-hose wielding guys aren't going to 
>play by Alice's rules. So, the only way for Alice to win is to do 
>the impossible (because this is reality, not TV) and that is to 
>grab the rubber hose and beat them with it. 

 The whole point is that since such a system offers no way to verify
that Alice has indeed at any point given them 'everything' she has to
tell, they will keep beating Alice; Alice, recognizing this at the
outset has no reason to give them anything because she knows that since
she cannot prove she has given them everything they will beat her again
and again no matter what she does. The idea of successive keys unlocking
more and more important data means that she can chose to give them some
of her keys and then just grit out the beatings til they either develop
conscience (unlikely), lose patience, (more likely), or figure they have
gotten all there is to get.

While this method guarantees a beating, it really does offer the best
chance of getting away with the withholding of the most secure keys.

The only chink in the system would be independent knowledge from a
coworker or some such that there is more there.
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Brian B. Riley --> http://members.macconnect.com/~brianbr
  For PGP Keys  <mailto:brianbr@together.net?subject=Get%20PGP%20Key>

  "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
    no path, and leave a trail"  - Ralph Waldo Emerson