On Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 10:20:41AM -0700, Tim Howe wrote:
> Wouldn't putting back doors into encryption schemes in the US mean that
> we could only decrypt messages encrypted with our own crypts? It
> wouldn't help us decrypt anything done with encryption developed
> elseware. So basically they want to spy on Americans. I feel safer
> already....
Duh! It's very typical of lawmakers. A tragedy happens, someone
who wants to be popular (as in get reelected) says some garbage
which he doesn't fully understand to feed off the ignorance and
confusion of those he's trying to be popular with. In the end,
the people that are (supposedly) being protected lose liberties
and are less safe.
I'm an online merchant. I deal with "stolen identity" crimes
on a regular basis. It costs me money. Without strong crypto,
it will only get worse. I know I'm not alone. I'm sure many
of you work for companies that rely on crypto. The internet
is much more than a communications device; it is a signifigant
part of the economy.
Breaking crypto is not going to make it that much easier to
find terrorists. The thing is, most crypto acutally can be
deciphered. Sure it takes a lot of computation cycles, and
one can't simply "tap the internet to see who's talking about
about blowing something up."
It's just a weak excuse for the lack of effort in intellegence
gathering. I mean, IPs tell a lot more about someone than what
they might write in an email. After all, IPs can be traced to
actual physical locations, as in people, as in the people who
should be under surveilence for what they have done, not for
what they have written.
If the government really wants to read someone's emails, then
they should spend more on developing computers that are efficient
enough to do the task, as well as actually identifying the emails
they think may contain valuable information; not take away the
freedom and privacy of all it's citizens.
Of course, the real irony is that the US has sold crypto
technology to MidEast countries that you and I cannot have here,
which leads to a whole other discussion, mostly historical, and
revolves around the Opium Wars many years ago, but like I said,
that's a whole other discussion. (But I'll give a hint ...
"wars" against contraband are both *popular* and *profitable*.
Now, who do those words appeal to, lawmakers perhaps?)
--
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