Hal Merritt wrote | You may even be able to use the cryptogram in many reports/displays as the | cryptogram may be sufficient for the business need.
and he could have made this point even more strongly. There are now many situations in which the cryptogram is not just usable but better: It moots privacy issues without destroying uniqueness, confounding different entities. The concerns about doing encryption badly that have been expressed here are, I suppose, appropriate. Encryption schemes are easy to botch. That conceded, I should myself be more concerned about the other problems of a shop that has no encryption experience at this late date. If, improbably, it is self-contained, has no external relations, it may not be in trouble. Otherwise, both here in the US and in the EU, it is almost certainly operating 1) in violation of a good many privacy regulations and 2) at risk from intruders. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
