[ Steve asked me to add:
Perry, could you amend my posting to include the following URL, too:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-Internet-Bookseller-Settlement.html ]
Naturally, those of us on this list advocate routine use of cryptography. But
cases where cryptography or the lack thereof is demonstrably
commercially significant are rare. A new one has just come to light.
According to the 23 November Wall Street Journal (if you subscribe to their
Web site, see http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943305134720688183.htm), a
rare book dealer has pleaded guilty to intercepting more than 4,000 email
messages, in an effort to gather market intelligence. (The company claimes
that the interceptions were innocent; the Justice Department disagrees.)
Alibris is both a rare book dealer and an ISP serving other book dealers; they
kept copies of messages from Amazon.com to other dealers.
There's no mention in the article about how routine encryption would have
proteced the victims...
--Steve Bellovin
