Tim May wrote: >I nominate this article as the most pretentious--or should I say >"precious"?--mixing of metaphors seen in a major piece of reporting >this year. I'm chuffed that you thought my RSA feature was 'a major piece of reporting', Tim. I actually intended it as a fun, crystal ball-gazing exercise. When I wrote the feature in a deliberately camp style, I was poking fun at the oh-so-self-important in the crypto field. Perhaps you're familiar with them, Tim? There are two other points from my RSA interview that might be of interest to this list: 1. RSA's Duane also included quantum computing in his crypto-future list. Specifically, he said: "You can imagine that in cryptography, quantum computing would be a dramatic step forward. Right now its a little bit too Star Treky." He also seemed to refer to quantum cryptography: being "able to transfer small sequences of bits from one place to another with no connection between them." And added: "I could get you an encryption key with no connection in advance." No surprises there, but what's interesting is that a senior person at RSA holds this view. For the record, Duane seemed to be pretty cluey. Unlike many of the executives at his level I've interviewed, he managed to answer virtually all the interview questions (including providing tactful non-answers) with almost no help from his media minder, who waited patiently by his side ready to pounce. He also straddled the business/technical crypto topics well. 2. RSA Australia sought NSA approval for its Christmas party. Yes, folks, it's true. It appears the long arm of the NSA reached right into the egg nog. The problem was that RSA Australia wanted to have one Christmas party for its entire Brisbane and Sydney operation. That covered about 30 employees or so. According to RSA (not Duane): "They [RSA] actually had to get clearance in December of last year from the NSA directly to hold a Christmas party in the same building. They had to get an official signed document before they could have a Christmas party together. There's about three people in the sales office in Brisbane, then there's about 20 people in the development labs. And they wanted to have the Christmas party together. And they flew the guys from Sydney up as well. So they had to contact the NSA and get a signed document to say they could have the Christmas party together in one of the hotels." I asked, Why would allowing the Australian sales office and the Australian development office to intermingle be considered a crypto-technology weapons transfer from the US to Australia? No one could answer that one exactly, except by saying, "Don't forget, some of these laws are obtuse, so you have to be careful not to accidentally circumvent them." Neither Duane nor his minder knew if RSA Australia had to send the NSA any Christmas presents as pay off for the agency's approval. It's also interesting to note that Duane himself, as International Technical Director of RSA, was seriously barred from the Brisbane development office. He said, "I was not allowed to go near the Brisbane engineering office - that was our own engineering office. Because if I did, it would potentially be perceived as me transferring weapons-grade material to a foreign power .. I wasn't allowed to be within a certain distance of the office." How far? He wouldn't say exactly, but after some hard pushing from me, he admitted it was "more than 10 kilometres". (No wonder he was interested in 'Star Treky' technology). And as for Tim's parting shot: >This latest Dreyfus affair is tedious beyond words. No doubt she (or >he) will be an honored guest and probably a speaker at the next CFP. It's 'she' actually, but how lovely to see you've become so politically correct in your old age, Tim. - Suelette Dreyfus
