From: Mike Rosing <cryptech@Mcs.Net>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:46:35 -0800 (PST)
To: Dave Emery <die@die.com>
Subject: Re: reference
In-Reply-To: <19980320131536.57966@die.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.980320133804.6518B-100000@Venus.mcs.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Fri, 20 Mar 1998, Dave Emery wrote:

> 	I'll bite, how ?   Crypto is not a destructive weapon - it may
> blind the opponent, perhaps even sometimes at critical times when that
> can induce him to behave dangerously - but I fail to see how a cipher in
> and of itself is a weapon of destruction, let alone mass destruction.  I
> see crypto as an entirely defensive weapon with no potential to destroy
> anything (except perhaps data when the key gets lost or forgotten).

By government fiat, not by reality.  Crypto is *classified* as a weapon,
so you stick a processor in a box with a keypad and scramble inputs to
outputs and you have a device which is on the munitions list along with
tanks and jet fighters.  Pistols and rifles aren't weapons of mass
destruction so they aren't on the munitions list, but crypto is.  So, by
fiat, it is a "weapon of mass destruction".

it's Sarcasim dude, and points out how stupid the law can be.  I'll take a
battery operated wire wrap tool, but even a hand job and candle light will
do.

As for the high explosives, processors are good at timing.  You can build
a pretty cheap detonator with some fancy properties using a $10 processor
chip.  With a couple of transistors you'll get more than enough current
to do the job, the wires won't be connected that long :-)

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike