1497 lines
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1497 lines
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Date: Sun, 13 Jun 93 18:31:50 PDT
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Reply-To: <surfpunk@versant.com>
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Return-Path: <cocot@versant.com>
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Message-ID: <surfpunk-0086@SURFPUNK.Technical.Journal>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: text/plain
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From: surfpunk@versant.com (erfhetraf)
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To: surfpunk@versant.com (SURFPUNK Technical Journal)
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Subject: [surfpunk-0086] CRYPT: PKP and NIST cross-license
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# Subject: I want my SURFPUNK
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#
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# I don't know what happened to my subscription to
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# SURFPUNK, but I haven't received an issue since
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# May 5. I'd like to have it back. Thanks.
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#
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# -- a concerned surfpunker
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Whew. It's been a long time. Apologies. I've had a different sort of
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mailer problems each week. But I hope we're back now to stay.
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If you haven't received an issue since #0085 on Wed, 5 May 93,
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you're not missing any. We've been out for a good month.
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Our address has simplified. We are now simply "surfpunk@versant.com".
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It used to be "surfpunk@osc.versant.com". You can now drop the "osc".
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If you are missing surfpunks, or want old backissues,
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use the "www" (or "xmosaic") server with the Universal Record Locator
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http://www.acns.nwu.edu/surfpunk/
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(and check out the first issue of BLINK while you're there).
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[ Write <j-germuska@nwu.edu> for more info on BLINK. ]
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This is a theme issue -- see the first article. --strick
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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0000000 a55a e970 d8f6 7ea7 3838 6988 5c4e 337c
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0000020 ba89 c087 915b 4652 fa21 e20e c5db 3e03
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0000040 a856 e161 fa23 50d3 efa9 0641 96c8 50a5
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0000060 ee84 beb0 b865 d2d8 8299 f98c 2e97 a2d3
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0000100 4df7 db2a 8845 6ea3 1068 a3f8 331f 0c6d
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0000120 efe8 4ac7 d0c7 5eb7 f4ce 9434 22f8 c2c6
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0000140 d2bd 2db2 40d9 8672 f4f4 f0ed da9f 7393
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0000160 b9d2 15d4 e653 d649 a15c 2161 f7bc 62ed
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________________________________________________________________________
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Subject: _f y__ c_n wr_t_ th_s, g_ t_ j__l
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From: strick
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This issue will contain a number of documents relating to
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cryptography. The last couple of months have seen a lot of action in
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this realm, and I wish I had a good summary of what the big moves were
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and what the current status is. It would be difficult, however, to
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separate the plain fact of what documents say from what they imply and
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what is really going on behind the scenes.
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Here's a very brief, highlevel summary, from my own point of view.
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It's probably not too far off from the consensus at the Mountain View
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Cypherpunks physical meeting last weekend. It discussses US policy,
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but it will certainly influence the rest of the world's policies.
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We seem to be moving from an era when the US policy on cryptography was
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something like this: Any encryption is legal within the US [ and
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perhaps Canada ] boundaries, but only very weak encryption can be
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exported. The restrictions on export may not have made much sense on
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the surface, but they have sucessfully prevented the really popular
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products from using encryption. In effect, the available encryption is
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weak enough that a determined agent, perhaps the U S Government, can
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easily crack it.
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The new era might be this: Strong encryption is available within the
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US, and even mandated in some cases, but only encryption that leaves
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"escrowed" keys is allowed. The escrowed keys are available to the U S
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Government. Any other strong encryption is made illegal.
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How to make encryption illegal is a good question. Any strings of
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seemingly random numbers could potentially be an encrypted message.
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Could you imagine going to jail if you cannot decode stray bits?
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I'm not going to try to convince you that this is the ultimate goal,
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but I do hope you will try to understand what is happening. A paranoid
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view is that all of these decisions are already made, and the
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technology is in place, and now, with only token public debate, the
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system will be put in place. If this is correct, then President
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Clinton will be of little help; he is already a strong proponent of the
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Clipper chip. I don't know if the paranoid view is correct, but it is
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plausible.
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Sorry if this isn't a fun issue. I hope the documents I pick are helpful.
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What's in this issue of SURFPUNK:
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-- NIST and PKP cross-lisence, to lock public key encryption
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and the NIST-proposed digitial signature algorithm.
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About two months ago PKP acquired the Schorr patent,
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which supposedly covers the DSA algorithm that NIST
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proposes for digital signatures.
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-- Opinion by Hal Finney
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-- Opinion by L. Detweiler
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-- NIST Crypto Resolutions, Computer System Security and
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Privacy Advisory Board, June 4, 1993
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-- CPSR Crypto Statement to NIST
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Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board, June 1993
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-- CPSR Crypto Statement to The Subcommittee on
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Telecommunications and Finance,
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Committee on Energy and Commerce,
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U.S. House of Representatives, June 9, 1993 [ from CuD #5.43 ]
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For more info, try these resources:
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** Usenet groups sci.crypt
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** Usenet groups comp.risks (RISKS Forum)
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** Usenet groups comp.org.eff.news
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** Usenet groups comp.org.eff.talk
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** EFF ftp site: ftp.eff.org
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** Cypherpunks mailing list: cypherpunk-request@toad.com
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** Cypherpunks ftp site
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soda.berkeley.edu : /pub/cypherpunks
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** Computer Underground Digest
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Usenet group comp.society.cu-digest
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subscriptions: tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu
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ANONYMOUS FTP SITES:
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UNITED STATES: ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/cud
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uglymouse.css.itd.umich.edu (141.211.182.53)
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halcyon.com( 202.135.191.2) in /pub/mirror/cud
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AUSTRALIA: ftp.ee.mu.oz.au (128.250.77.2) in /pub/text/CuD.
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EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/cud. (Finland)
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ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud (United Kingdom)
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________________________________________________________________________
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0000200 ff5d 91ce 4fff ad85 57b4 a2a8 b354 9cd0
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0000220 ab61 c3f6 ad38 d6dd 7f74 01ad e27e ca2e
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0000240 e348 3346 1c03 c629 dfa0 09b7 43f6 f992
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0000260 25a1 e863 6f16 49a1 cf88 2fdb 4562 00ec
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0000300 b330 9bff 2493 5b5c 59cc 7dbc c0cf 46f2
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0000320 888d b538 d02a ae5a 0153 ad8f fd19 8ebb
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0000340 f25a 0712 8e87 be58 6e27 b639 21ab ddb7
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0000360 4026 b065 f228 bad9 bc7e f407 3713 1246
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________________________________________________________________________
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To: cypherpunks@toad.com
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Subject: it's official: PKP sells out for Clipper
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Date: Fri, 11 Jun 93 20:19:45 -0600
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From: ""L. Detweiler"" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>
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>From the following document:
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>PKP will also grant a license to practice key management, at no
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>additional fee, for the integrated circuits which will implement
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>both the DSA and the anticipated Federal Information Processing
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>Standard for the "key escrow" system announced by President Clinton
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>on April 16, 1993.
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more weasel words:
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>Notice of availability of this invention for licensing
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>was waived because it was determined that expeditious granting of
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>such license will best serve the interest of the Federal Government
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>and the public.
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what else?
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===cut=here===
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From: jim@rand.org (Jim Gillogly)
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Newsgroups: sci.crypt
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Subject: DSA: NIST and PKP come to terms
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Message-ID: <16860@rand.org>
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Date: 11 Jun 93 20:56:44 GMT
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Sender: news@rand.org
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Organization: Banzai Institute
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This text was transcribed from a fax and may have transcription
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errors. We believe the text to be correct but some of the numbers
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may be incorrect or incomplete.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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** The following notice was published in the Federal Register, Vol.
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58, No. 108, dated June 8, 1993 under Notices **
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National Institute of Standards and Technology
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Notice of Proposal for Grant of Exclusive Patent License
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This is to notify the public that the National Institute of
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Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to grant an exclusive
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world-wide license to Public Key Partners of Sunnyvale, California
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to practice the Invention embodied in U.S. Patent Application No.
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07/738.431 and entitled "Digital Signature Algorithm." A PCT
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application has been filed. The rights in the invention have been
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assigned to the United States of America.
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The prospective license is a cross-license which would resolve a
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patent dispute with Public Key Partners and includes the right to
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sublicense. Notice of availability of this invention for licensing
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was waived because it was determined that expeditious granting of
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such license will best serve the interest of the Federal Government
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and the public. Public Key Partners has provided NIST with the
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materials contained in Appendix A as part of their proposal to
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NIST.
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Inquiries, comments, and other materials relating to the prospec-
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tive license shall be submitted to Michael R. Rubin, Active Chief
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Counsel for Technology, Room A-1111, Administration Building,
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National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
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Maryland 20899. His telephone number is (301) 975-2803. Applica-
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tions for a license filed in response to this notice will be
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treated as objections to the grant of the prospective license.
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Only written comments and/or applications for a license which are
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received by NIST within sixty (60) days for the publication of this
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notice will be considered.
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The prospective license will be granted unless, within sixty (60)
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days of this notice, NIST receives written evidence and argument
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which established that the grant of the license would not be
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consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.
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Dated: June 2, 1993.
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Raymond G. Kammer
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Acting Director, National Institute Standards and Technology.
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Appendix "A"
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The National Institute for Standards and Technology ("NIST") has
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announced its intention to grant Public Key Partners ("PKP")
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sublicensing rights to NIST's pending patent application on the
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Digital Signature Algorithm ("DSA").
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Subject to NIST's grant of this license, PKP is pleased to declare
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its support for the proposed Federal Information Processing
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Standard for Digital Signatures (the "DSS") and the pending
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availability of licenses to practice the DSA. In addition to the
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DSA, licenses to practice digital signatures will be offered by PKP
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under the following patents:
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Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Diffie-Hellman")
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No. 4,200,770
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Public Key Cryptographic Apparatus and Method
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("Hellman-Merkle") No. 4,315,552
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Exponential Cryptographic Apparatus and Method
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("Hellman-Pohlig") No. 4,434,414
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Method For Identifying Subscribers And For Generating
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And Verifying Electronic Signatures In A Data Exchange
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System ("Schnorr") No. 4,995,082
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It is PKP's intent to make practice of the DSA royalty free for
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personal, noncommercial and U.S. Federal, state and local
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government use. As explained below, only those parties who enjoy
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commercial benefit from making or selling products, or certifying
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digital signatures, will be required to pay royalties to practice
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the DSA.
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PKP will also grant a license to practice key management, at no
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additional fee, for the integrated circuits which will implement
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both the DSA and the anticipated Federal Information Processing
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Standard for the "key escrow" system announced by President Clinton
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on April 16, 1993.
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Having stated these intentions, PKP now takes this opportunity to
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publish its guidelines for granting uniform licenses to all parties
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having a commercial interest in practicing this technology:
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First, no party will be denied a license for any reason other that
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the following:
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(i) Failure to meet its payment obligations,
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(ii) Outstanding claims of infringement, or
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(iii) Previous termination due to material breach.
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Second, licenses will be granted for any embodiment sold by the
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licensee or made for its use, whether for final products software,
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or components such as integrated circuits and boards, and regard-
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less of the licensee's channel of distribution. Provided the
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requisite royalties have been paid by the seller on the enabling
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component(s), no further royalties will be owned by the buyer for
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making or selling the final product which incorporates such
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components.
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Third, the practice of digital signatures in accordance with the
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DSS may be licensed separately from any other technical art covered
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by PKP's patents.
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Fourth, PKP's royalty rates for the right to make or sell products,
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subject to uniform minimum fees, will be no more than 2 1/2% for
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hardware products and 5% for software, with the royalty rate
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further declining to 1% on any portion of the product price
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exceeding $1,000. These royalty rates apply only to noninfringing
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parties and will be uniform without regard to whether the licensed
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product creates digital signatures, verifies digital signatures or
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performs both.
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Fifth, for the next three (3) years, all commercial services which
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certify a signature's authenticity for a fee may be operated
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royalty free. Thereafter, all providers of such commercial
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certification services shall pay a royalty to PKP of $1.00 per
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certificate for each year the certificate is valid.
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Sixth, provided the foregoing royalties are paid on such products
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or services, all other practice of the DSA shall be royalty free.
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Seventh, PKP invites all of its existing licensees, at their
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option, to exchange their current licenses for the standard license
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offered for DSA.
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Finally, PKP will mediate the concerns of any party regarding the
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availability of PKP's licenses for the DSA with designated
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representatives of NIST and PKP. For copies of PKP's license
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terms, contact Michael R. Rubin, Acting Chief Counsel for Technolo-
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gy, NIST, or Public Key Partners.
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Dated: June 2, 1993.
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Robert B. Fougner, Esq.,
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Director of Licensing, Public Key Partners,
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310 North Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94033
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[FR Doc. 93-13473 Filed 8-7-93; 8:45 am]
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Forwarded by:
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--
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Jim Gillogly
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Trewesday, 21 Forelithe S.R. 1993, 20:56
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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From: hal@alumni.cco.caltech.edu (Hal Finney)
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Date: Fri, 11 Jun 93 22:27:09 PDT
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To: cypherpunks@toad.com
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Subject: PKP sellout?
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This was my response on sci.crypt to this announcement that PKP will
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be supporting DSS, and licensing its technology for use by Clipper
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phones. Thanks to Lance for alerting us to this announcement.
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-----
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jim@rand.org (Jim Gillogly) forwards:
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>This is to notify the public that the National Institute of
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>Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to grant an exclusive
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>world-wide license to Public Key Partners of Sunnyvale, California
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>to practice the Invention embodied in U.S. Patent Application No.
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>07/738.431 and entitled "Digital Signature Algorithm."
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And so it appears that another patent jewel will be added to the crown
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worn by PKP, the de facto owner of cryptographic technology in the United
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States. They will have an exclusive license to the DSA, as they already
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do to RSA and most other worthwhile encryption technologies.
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This also appears to put to rest the much-publicized feud between RSA and
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NIST/NSA. Conspiracy theorists can now comfortably return to the
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position that PKP/RSADSI is actually an arm of the NSA, dedicated to
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restricting and delaying access to strong cryptography as much as
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possible.
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>Notice of availability of this invention for licensing
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>was waived because it was determined that expeditious granting of
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>such license will best serve the interest of the Federal Government
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>and the public.
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Once again we are presented with a fait accompli; no other organizations
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were given an opportunity to bid for the licensing of this patent. The
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government prefers to see PKP holding the keys to all cryptography in the
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U.S. Remember how Clipper's technology was similarly assigned to
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particular corporations on a non-competitive basis?
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>Subject to NIST's grant of this license, PKP is pleased to declare
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>its support for the proposed Federal Information Processing
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>Standard for Digital Signatures (the "DSS") and the pending
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>availability of licenses to practice the DSA.
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And what of the technical objections to DSA/DSS raised in earlier
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documents by officials of RSADSI, such as in the recent CACM? No doubt
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those objections are now moot.
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>PKP will also grant a license to practice key management, at no
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>additional fee, for the integrated circuits which will implement
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>both the DSA and the anticipated Federal Information Processing
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>Standard for the "key escrow" system announced by President Clinton
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>on April 16, 1993.
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So PKP is now supporting key escrow and Clipper. Can anyone seriously
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argue that this company is a friend to supporters of strong cryptography?
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These are dark times indeed. PKP has thrown in with the government,
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getting behind DSS and Clipper in exchange for exclusive licensing
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rights. Their ownership of DH and RSA will make it that much harder for
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any competition to Clipper to arise.
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If the 60-day comment period really means anything, perhaps public
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criticism can be effective here. There is much to be concerned about in
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this announcement.
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Hal Finney
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hal@alumni.caltech.edu
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________________________________________________________________________
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0000600 c8aa 62f7 811f e878 3616 b536 f59e fe2d
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0000620 90fe 7f30 88fd 3576 29bf 9a02 0929 f48b
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0000640 51a5 089b 795e 5849 61eb 1a5e f78f 3c6b
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0000660 46c2 dd52 ae1b 42bb 926c 6be1 7709 5de3
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0000700 0be1 7ae3 d9d4 1421 ca27 c0c0 e202 3814
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0000720 850c 5164 74a1 2586 c012 660e f38a 1ba9
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0000740 7fd0 dd7a 3608 63de 20ee 94fd c55c ef3d
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0000760 41b2 89f9 e373 f2b5 df3e eaf0 142e a17b
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________________________________________________________________________
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To: cypherpunks@toad.com
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Subject: PKP sellout = betrayal
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Date: Sun, 13 Jun 93 00:00:45 -0600
|
|
From: ""L. Detweiler"" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>
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|
|
S. Bellovin <smb@research.att.com>
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>I don't see the hand of conspiracy here; rather, I see an encouraging
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>trend, that the private sector is able to compete in cryptographic
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>competence with NSA.
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>
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>I am encouraged by the pledges to allow non-commercial use -- note the
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>lack of any RSAREF-like interface -- and to engage in non-discriminatory
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>licensing.
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By cooperating with NIST on DSA and Clipper, they are implicitly
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sending the message that the poorly-to-outrageously directed standards
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making processes for both are wholly acceptable assuming PKP directly
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profits. That is, that is the weak `nonconspirational' interpretation.
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The conspirational interpretation is that this announcement is just a
|
|
blatant indication that PKP, in addition to NIST, is controlled by the NSA.
|
|
|
|
Let me remind everyone that Capstone has a yet-unspecified exchange
|
|
protocol. Denning suggested on RISKS that Diffie-Hellman (covered by
|
|
PKP patents) `could be used'. There is some serious evasion going on
|
|
here. If Capstone is already built, with a public-key algorithm
|
|
installed, it suggests that PKP has been cooperating on the
|
|
Clipper/Capstone proposals all along. It will be most interesting to
|
|
hear announcements on Capstone that announce its key exchange mechanism.
|
|
|
|
PKP `had' the ability to murder Clipper/Capstone in its crib if it so
|
|
desired, more so than any other single nexus, by denying the right to
|
|
use public key algorithms (on which it now has a strangling,
|
|
monopolistic lock). Gad, I can't believe it didn't occur to me to lobby
|
|
them to do so. In retrospect, it wouldn't have done anything more than
|
|
heighten the inevitable betrayal.
|
|
|
|
Maybe Mr. Bellovin can clarify how this agreement represents an
|
|
`encouraging trend in the private sector to compete with the NSA' --
|
|
Good lord man, not unless you think that PKP represents the entire
|
|
private sector in cryptographic applications. Uh, touche' -- you do and it does.
|
|
|
|
Does anybody feel like raiding PKP dumpsters? :(
|
|
|
|
P.S. doubt P.R.Z. will be in a docile mood after hearing this one...
|
|
|
|
________________________________________________________________________
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0001000 26b5 740f 361d c550 1053 5998 56dc 1e64
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0001020 01e9 8f39 a3e2 e991 1e37 bd23 3c9d 07f2
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0001040 9892 7e43 17ed bef3 10d0 c9ea 7b1a f2ed
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0001060 5b94 23ef d25f ebe4 91d8 b9fc 638b 7704
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0001100 adf7 ac9f 412f 7a67 a2a7 9c59 dcf4 135b
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0001120 fdfa 3dd3 4656 4ce2 74bc 4fe7 17e4 ec78
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0001140 52c3 93e5 4472 1336 7e88 b901 cc76 c18e
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0001160 a949 456d 2c94 6c0e 90fc d109 e2ed 224b
|
|
|
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________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
From: Dave Banisar <Banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
|
|
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,alt.security,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.crypt,alt.privacy.clipper
|
|
Subject: NIST CSSPAB Resolutions 6/4/93
|
|
Date: 5 Jun 1993 00:48:11 GMT
|
|
Organization: CPSR Washington Office
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NIST Crypto Resolutions
|
|
|
|
Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board
|
|
June 4, 1993
|
|
|
|
Resolution #1
|
|
|
|
At Mr. Kammer's request we have conducted two days of
|
|
hearings. The clear message of the majority of input
|
|
was that there are serious concerns regarding the Key
|
|
Escrow Initiative and the Board concurs with these
|
|
concerns. Many of these issues are still to be fully
|
|
understood and more time is needed to achieving that
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
Accordingly, this Board resolves to have an additional
|
|
meeting in July 1993 in order to more completely respond
|
|
to Mr. Kammer's request and to fulfill its statutory
|
|
obligations under P.L. 100-235. The Board recommends
|
|
that the inter-agency review take note of our input
|
|
collected, our preliminary finding, and adjust the
|
|
timetable to allow for resolution of the significant
|
|
issues and problems raised.
|
|
|
|
Attached to this resolution is a preliminary
|
|
distillation of the serious concerns and problems.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Resolution #2
|
|
|
|
Key escrowing encryption technology represents a
|
|
dramatic change in the nation's information
|
|
infrastructure. The full implications of this
|
|
encryption technique are not fully understood at this
|
|
time. Therefore, the Board recommends that key
|
|
escrowing encryption technology not be deployed beyond
|
|
current implementations planned within the Executive
|
|
Branch, until the significant public policy and
|
|
technical issues inherent with this encryption technique
|
|
are fully understood.
|
|
|
|
[Attachment to Resolution #1]]
|
|
|
|
- A convincing statement of the problem that Clipper
|
|
attempts to solve has not been provided.
|
|
|
|
- Export and important controls over cryptographic
|
|
products must be reviewed. Based upon data compiled
|
|
from U.S. and international vendors, current controls
|
|
are negatively impacting U.S. competitiveness in the
|
|
world market and are not inhibiting the foreign
|
|
production and use of cryptography (DES and RSA)
|
|
|
|
- The Clipper/Capstone proposal does not address the
|
|
needs of the software industry, which is a critical and
|
|
significant component of the National Information
|
|
Infrastructure and the U.S. economy.
|
|
|
|
- Additional DES encryption alternatives and key
|
|
management alternatives should be considered since there
|
|
is a significant installed base.
|
|
|
|
- The individuals reviewing the Skipjack algorithm and
|
|
key management system must be given an appropriate time
|
|
period and environment in which to perform a thorough
|
|
review. This review must address the escrow protocol
|
|
and chip implementation as well as the algorithm itself.
|
|
|
|
- Sufficient information must be provided on the
|
|
proposed key escrow scheme to allow it to be fully
|
|
understood by the general public. It does not appear to
|
|
be clearly defined at this time and, since it is an
|
|
integral part of the security of the system, it appears
|
|
to require further development and consideration of
|
|
alternatives to the key escrow scheme (e.g., three
|
|
"escrow" entities, one of which is a non-government
|
|
agency, and a software based solution).
|
|
|
|
- The economic implications for the Clipper/Capstone
|
|
proposal have not been examined. These costs go beyond
|
|
the vendor cost of the chip and include such factors as
|
|
customer installation, maintenance, administration, chip
|
|
replacement, integration and interfacing, government
|
|
escrow systems costs, etc.
|
|
|
|
- Legal issues raised by the proposal must be reviewed.
|
|
|
|
- Congress, as well as the Administration, should play a
|
|
role in the conduct and approval of the results of the
|
|
review.
|
|
|
|
=======================================================
|
|
NIST Resolutions on Key Escow Issues and Clipper
|
|
provided by
|
|
CPSR Washington office
|
|
666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 303
|
|
Washington, DC 20003
|
|
rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org
|
|
=======================================================
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
0001200 87ce da42 62c0 89bf aae8 c933 f8c2 c29b
|
|
0001220 9e7b c03b 3c4f b60e 27b0 1114 2018 d5f7
|
|
0001240 2dd0 e567 12aa df8b ae74 86bc aed8 48e4
|
|
0001260 5b1e 9e14 5d51 6dca 158a 16ae 4590 87f4
|
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0001300 2bbf d387 bcc6 9e23 aaa9 6af1 591d eb26
|
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0001320 a780 9bbb 85fb 0cef fabe fe9f 2d63 f2ad
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0001340 460d 2de6 4e0e 7058 85de bc5e 17f1 4ffb
|
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0001360 006a 3347 8da1 192b 01d3 da57 98ed f6c3
|
|
|
|
________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
Organization: CPSR Civil Liberties and Computing Project
|
|
From: Dave Banisar <banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
|
|
To: CYPHERPUNKS <CYPHERPUNKS@toad.com>
|
|
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1993 21:20:10 EST
|
|
Subject: CPSR NIST Crypto Statement
|
|
|
|
|
|
CPSR NIST Crypto Statement
|
|
|
|
Department of Commerce
|
|
National Institute of Standards and Technology
|
|
|
|
Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board
|
|
|
|
Review of Cryptography Policy
|
|
June 1993
|
|
|
|
Statement of CPSR Washington office
|
|
Marc Rotenberg, director
|
|
(rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org)
|
|
with David Sobel, legal counsel,
|
|
Dave Banisar, policy analyst
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Chairman, members of the Advisory Panel, thank you for the
|
|
opportunity to speak today about emerging issues on cryptography
|
|
policy.
|
|
|
|
My name is Marc Rotenberg and I am director of the CPSR
|
|
Washington office. Although CPSR does not represent any computer
|
|
firm or industry trade association, we speak for many in the
|
|
computer profession who value privacy and are concerned about the
|
|
government's Clipper proposal.
|
|
|
|
During the last several years CPSR has organized several meetings
|
|
to promote public discussion of cryptography issues. We have also
|
|
obtained important government documents through the Freedom of
|
|
Information Act. We believe that good policies will only result if the
|
|
public, the profession, and the policy makers are fully informed
|
|
about the significance of these recent proposals.
|
|
|
|
We are pleased that the Advisory Board has organized hearings.
|
|
This review of cryptography policy will help determine if the Clipper
|
|
proposal is in the best interests of the country. We believe that a
|
|
careful review of the relevant laws and policies shows that the key
|
|
escrow arrangement is at odds with the public interest, and that
|
|
therefore the Clipper proposal should not go forward.
|
|
|
|
Today I will address issues 1 through 3 identified in the NIST
|
|
announcement, specifically the policy requirements of the Computer
|
|
Security Act, the legal issues surrounding the key escrow
|
|
arrangement, and the importance of privacy for network
|
|
development.
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. CRYPTOGRAPHY POLICY
|
|
|
|
The first issue concerns the 1987 statute enacted to improve
|
|
computer security in the federal government, to clarify the
|
|
responsibilities of NIST and NSA, and to ensure that technical
|
|
standards would serve civilian and commercial needs. The Computer
|
|
Security Act, which also established this Advisory Panel, is the true
|
|
cornerstone of cryptography policy in the United States. That law
|
|
made clear that in the area of unclassified computing systems, the
|
|
Department of Commerce and not the Department of Defense, would
|
|
be responsible for the development of technical standards. It
|
|
emphasized public accountability and stressed open decision-making.
|
|
|
|
The Computer Security Act grew out of a concern that classified
|
|
standards and secret meetings would not serve the interests of the
|
|
general public. As the practical applications for cryptography have
|
|
moved from the military and intelligence arenas to the commercial
|
|
sphere, this point has become clear. There is also clearly a conflict of
|
|
interest when an agency tasked with signal interception is also given
|
|
authority to develop standards for network security.
|
|
|
|
In the spirit of the Computer Security Act, NIST set out in 1989 to
|
|
develop a public key standard FIPS. In a memo dated May 5, 1989
|
|
and obtained by CPSR through the Freedom of Information Act, NIST
|
|
said that it planned:
|
|
|
|
to develop the necessary public-key based security
|
|
standards. We require a public-key algorithm for
|
|
calculating digital signatures and we also require a
|
|
public-key algorithm for distributing secret keys.
|
|
|
|
NIST then went on to define the requirements of the standard:
|
|
|
|
The algorithms that we use must be public, unclassified,
|
|
implementable in both hardware or software, usable by
|
|
federal Agencies and U.S. based multi-national
|
|
corporation, and must provide a level of security
|
|
sufficient for the protection of unclassified, sensitive
|
|
information and commercial propriety and/or valuable
|
|
information.
|
|
|
|
The Clipper proposal and the full-blown Capstone configuration,
|
|
which incorporates the key management function NIST set out to
|
|
develop in 1989, is very different from the one originally conceived
|
|
by NIST.
|
|
|
|
% The Clipper algorithm, Skipjack, is classified,
|
|
|
|
% Public access to the reasons underlying the proposal is
|
|
restricted,
|
|
|
|
% Skipjack can be implemented only in tamper-proof
|
|
hardware,
|
|
|
|
% It is unlikely to be used by multi-national corporations,
|
|
and
|
|
|
|
% Its security remains unproven.
|
|
|
|
The Clipper proposal undermines the central purpose of the
|
|
Computer Security Act. Although intended for broad use in
|
|
commercial networks, it was not developed at the request of either
|
|
U.S. business or the general public. It does not reflect public goals.
|
|
Rather it reflects the interests of one secret agency with the
|
|
authority to conduct foreign signal intelligence and another
|
|
government agency responsible for law enforcement investigations.
|
|
|
|
It is our belief that the Clipper proposal clearly violates the intent
|
|
of the Computer Security Act of 1987.
|
|
What is the significance of this? It is conceivable that an expert
|
|
panel of cryptographers will review the Skipjack algorithm and find
|
|
that it lives up its billing, that there is no "trap door" and no easy
|
|
way to reverse-engineer. In fact, the White House has proposed just
|
|
such a review process
|
|
|
|
But is this process adequate? Is this the procedure the Advisory
|
|
Board would endorse for the development of widespread technical
|
|
standards? The expert participants will probably not be permitted
|
|
to publish their assessments of the proposal in scientific journals,
|
|
further review of the standard will be restricted, and those who are
|
|
skeptical will remain in the dark about the actual design of the chip.
|
|
This may be an appropriate process for certain military systems, but
|
|
it is clearly inappropriate for a technical standard that the
|
|
government believes should be widely incorporated into the
|
|
communications infrastructure.
|
|
|
|
Good government policy requires that certain process goals be
|
|
satisfied. Decisions should be made in the open. The interests of the
|
|
participating agencies should be clear. Agencies should be
|
|
accountable for their actions and recommendations. Black boxes and
|
|
government oversight are not compatible.
|
|
|
|
There is an even greater obligation to promote open decisions
|
|
where technical and scientific issues are at stake. Innovation
|
|
depends on openness. The scientific method depends on the ability
|
|
of researchers to "kick the tires" and "test drive" the product. And,
|
|
then, even if it is a fairly good design, additional testing encourages
|
|
the development of new features, improved performance and
|
|
reduced cost. Government secrecy is incompatible which such a
|
|
development process.
|
|
|
|
Many of these principles are incorporated into the Computer
|
|
Security Act and the Freedom of Information Act. The current
|
|
government policy on the development of unclassified technical
|
|
standards, as set out in the Computer Security Act, is a very good
|
|
policy. It emphasizes public applications, stresses open review, and
|
|
ensures public accountability. It is not the policy that is flawed. It is
|
|
the Clipper proposal.
|
|
|
|
To accept the Clipper proposal would be to endorse a process that
|
|
ran contrary to the law, that discourages innovation, and that
|
|
undermines openness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
|
|
|
|
There are several legal and constitutional issues raised by the
|
|
government's key escrow proposal.
|
|
|
|
The premise of the Clipper key escrow arrangement is that the
|
|
government must have the ability to intercept electronic
|
|
communications, regardless of the economic or societal costs. The
|
|
FBI's Digital Telephony proposal, and the earlier Senate bill 266, was
|
|
based on the same assumption.
|
|
|
|
There are a number of arguments made in defense of this
|
|
position: that privacy rights and law enforcement needs must be
|
|
balanced, or that the government will be unable to conduct criminal
|
|
investigations without this capability.
|
|
|
|
Regardless of how one views these various claims, there is one
|
|
point about the law that should be made very clear: currently there
|
|
is no legal basis -- in statute, the Constitution or anywhere else --
|
|
that supports the premise which underlies the Clipper proposal. As
|
|
the law currently stands, surveillance is not a design goal. General
|
|
Motors would have a stronger legal basis for building cars that could
|
|
not go faster than 65 miles per hour than AT&T does in marketing a
|
|
commercial telephone that has a built-in wiretap capability. In law
|
|
there is simply nothing about the use of a telephone that is
|
|
inherently illegal or suspect.
|
|
|
|
The federal wiretap statute says only that communication service
|
|
providers must assist law enforcement in the execution of a lawful
|
|
warrant. It does not say that anyone is obligated to design systems
|
|
to facilitate future wire surveillance. That distinction is the
|
|
difference between countries that restrict wire surveillance to
|
|
narrow circumstances defined in law and those that treat all users of
|
|
the telephone network as potential criminals. U.S. law takes the first
|
|
approach. Countries such as the former East Germany took the
|
|
second approach. The use of the phone system by citizens was
|
|
considered inherently suspect and for that reason more than 10,000
|
|
people were employed by the East German government to listen in
|
|
on telephone calls.
|
|
|
|
It is precisely because the wiretap statute does not contain the
|
|
obligation to incorporate surveillance capability -- the design
|
|
premise of the Clipper proposal -- that the Federal Bureau of
|
|
Investigation introduced the Digital Telephony legislation. But that
|
|
legislation has not moved forward on Capitol Hill and the law has
|
|
remained unchanged. The Clipper proposal attempts to accomplish
|
|
through the standard-setting and procurement process what the
|
|
Congress has been unwilling to do through the legislative process.
|
|
|
|
On legal grounds, adopting the Clipper would be a mistake. There
|
|
is an important policy goal underlying the wiretap law. The Fourth
|
|
Amendment and the federal wiretap statute do not so much balance
|
|
competing interests as they erect barriers against government excess
|
|
and define the proper scope of criminal investigation. The purpose
|
|
of the federal wiretap law is to restrict the government, it is not to
|
|
coerce the public.
|
|
|
|
Therefore, if the government endorses the Clipper proposal, it will
|
|
undermine the basic philosophy of the federal wiretap law and the
|
|
fundamental values embodied in the Constitution. It will establish a
|
|
technical mechanism for signal interception based on a premise that
|
|
has no legal foundation. I am not speaking rhetorically about "Big
|
|
Brother." My point is simply that the assumption underlying the
|
|
Clipper proposal is more compatible with the practice of telephone
|
|
surveillance in the former East Germany than it is with the narrowly
|
|
limited circumstances that wire surveillance has been allowed in the
|
|
United States.
|
|
|
|
There are a number of other legal issues that have not been
|
|
adequately considered by the proponents of the key escrow
|
|
arrangement that the Advisory Board should examine. First, not all
|
|
lawful wiretaps follow a normal warrant process. It is critical that
|
|
the proponents of Clipper make very clear how emergency wiretaps
|
|
will be conducted before the proposal goes forward. Second, there
|
|
may be civil liability issues for the escrow agents if there is abuse or
|
|
compromise of the keys. Escrow agents may be liable for any harm
|
|
that results. Third, there is a Fifth Amendment dimension to the
|
|
proposed escrow key arrangement if a network user is compelled to
|
|
disclose his or her key to the government in order to access a
|
|
communications network. Each one of these issues should be
|
|
examined.
|
|
|
|
There is also one legislative change that we would like the
|
|
Advisory Board to consider. During our FOIA litigation, the NSA cited
|
|
a 1951 law to withhold certain documents that were critical to
|
|
understand the development of the Digital Signature Standard. The
|
|
law, passed grants the government the right restrict the disclosure
|
|
of any classified information pertaining to cryptography. While the
|
|
government may properly withhold classified information in FOIA
|
|
cases, the practical impact of this particular provision is to provide
|
|
another means to insulate cryptographic policy from public review.
|
|
|
|
Given the importance of public review of cryptography policy, the
|
|
requirement of the Computer Security Act, and the Advisory Board's
|
|
own commitment to an open, public process, we ask the Advisory
|
|
Board to recommend to the President and to the Congress that
|
|
section 798 be repealed or substantially revised to reflect current
|
|
circumstances.
|
|
|
|
This is the one area of national cryptography policy where we
|
|
believe a change is necessary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY
|
|
|
|
Communications privacy remains a critical test for network
|
|
development. Networks that do not provide a high degree of privacy
|
|
are clearly less useful to network users. Given the choice between a
|
|
cryptography product without a key escrow and one with a key
|
|
escrow, it would be difficult to find a user who would prefer the key
|
|
escrow requirement. If this proposal does go forward, it will not be
|
|
because network users or commercial service providers favored it.
|
|
|
|
Many governments are now facing questions about restrictions on
|
|
cryptography similar to the question now being raised in this
|
|
country. It is clear that governments may choose to favor the
|
|
interests of consumers and businesses over law enforcement. Less
|
|
than a month ago, the government of Australia over-rode the
|
|
objections of law enforcement and intelligence agencies and allowed
|
|
the Australian telephone companies to go forward with new digital
|
|
mobile phone networks, GSM, using the A5 robust algorithm. Other
|
|
countries will soon face similar decisions. We hope that they will
|
|
follow a similar path
|
|
|
|
To briefly summarize, the problem here is not the existing law on
|
|
computer security or policies on cryptography and wire surveillance.
|
|
The Computer Security Act stresses public standards, open review,
|
|
and commercial applications. The federal wiretap statute is one of
|
|
the best privacy laws in the world. With the exception of one
|
|
provision in the criminal code left over from the Cold War, our
|
|
current cryptography policy is very good. It reflects many of the
|
|
values -- individual liberty, openness, government accountability --
|
|
that are crucial for democratic societies to function.
|
|
|
|
The problem is the Clipper proposal. It is an end-run around
|
|
policies intended to restrict government surveillance and to ensure
|
|
agency accountability. It is an effort to put in place a technical
|
|
configuration that is at odds with the federal wiretap law and the
|
|
protection of individual privacy. It is for these reasons that we ask
|
|
the Advisory Board to recommend to the Secretary of Commerce, the
|
|
White House, and the Congress that the current Clipper proposal not
|
|
go forward.
|
|
|
|
I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about these
|
|
issues. I wish to invite the members of the Advisory Committee to
|
|
the third annual CPSR Privacy and Cryptography conference that will
|
|
be held Monday, June 7 in Washington, DC at the Carnegie
|
|
Endowment for International Peace. That meeting will provide an
|
|
opportunity for further discussion about cryptography policy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ATTACHMENTS
|
|
|
|
"TWG Issue Number: NIST - May 5, 1989," document obtained
|
|
by CPSR as a result of litigation under the Freedom of
|
|
Information Act.
|
|
|
|
"U.S. as Big Brother of Computer Age," The New York Times,
|
|
May 6, 1993, at D1.
|
|
|
|
"Keeping Fewer Secrets," Issues in Science and Technology, vol.
|
|
IX, no. 1 (Fall 1992)
|
|
|
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"The Only Locksmith in Town," The Index on Censorship
|
|
(January 1990)
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[The republication of these articles for the non-commercial purpose
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of informing the government about public policy is protected by
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section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976]
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===============================================
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________________________________________________________________________
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Source: Computer underground Digest Sun June 13 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 43
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ISSN: ISSN 1004-043X
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Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1993 12:30:38 EST
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From: Dave Banisar <banisar@WASHOFC.CPSR.ORG>
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|
Subject: File 2--CPSR Clipper Testimony (6-9-93) in House Subcommittee
|
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|
|
CPSR Clipper Testimony 6/9
|
|
|
|
On June 9, 1993, Congressman Edward Markey, Chairman of the
|
|
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance held an
|
|
oversight hearing on Rencryption and telecommunications network
|
|
security. Panelists were Whitfield Diffie of Sun Microsystems, Dr.
|
|
Dorothy Denning, Steven Bryen of Secure Communications, Marc
|
|
Rotenberg of the CPSR Washington Office and E.R. Kerkeslager of AT&T.
|
|
|
|
Congressman Markey, after hearing the testimony presented,
|
|
noted that the Clipper proposal had raised an arched eyebrow among
|
|
the whole committeeS and that the committee viewed the proposal
|
|
skeptically. This statement was the latest indication that the Clipper
|
|
proposal has not been well received by policy makers. Last Friday,
|
|
the Computer Systems Security and Privacy Advisory Board of NIST
|
|
issued two resolutions critical of the encryption plan, suggesting
|
|
that further study was required and that implementation of the plan
|
|
should be delayed until the review is completed.
|
|
|
|
At the Third CPSR Cryptography and Privacy Conference on
|
|
Monday, June 7, the Acting Director of NIST, Raymond Kammer, announced
|
|
that the implementation of the proposal will be delayed and that a
|
|
more comprehensive review will be undertaken. The review is due in
|
|
the fall. Kammer told the Washington Post that Rmaybe we wonUt
|
|
continue in the direction we started ous.
|
|
|
|
+-------------------------------------------------
|
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|
|
Prepared Testimony
|
|
and
|
|
Statement for the Record
|
|
of
|
|
Marc Rotenberg, director
|
|
CPSR Washington Office
|
|
on
|
|
Encryption Technology and Policy
|
|
Before
|
|
The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
|
|
Committee on Energy and Commerce
|
|
|
|
U.S. House of Representatives
|
|
June 9, 1993
|
|
|
|
SUMMARY
|
|
|
|
The cryptography issue is of particular concern to CPSR.
|
|
During the past several years CPSR has pursued an extensive study of
|
|
cryptography policy in the United States. CPSR has organized public
|
|
conferences, conducted litigation under the Freedom of Information Act,
|
|
and has emphasized the importance of cryptography for privacy
|
|
protection and the need to scrutinize carefully government proposals
|
|
designed to limit the use of this technology.
|
|
To evaluate the Clipper proposal it is necessary to look at a
|
|
1987 law, the Computer Security Act, which made clear that in the area
|
|
of unclassified computing systems, the National Institute of Standards
|
|
and Technology (NIST) and not the National Security Agency (NSA), would
|
|
be responsible for the development of technical standards. The Act
|
|
emphasized public accountability and stressed open decision-making.
|
|
In the spirit of the Act, in 1989 NIST set out to develop a
|
|
public key cryptography standard. According to documents obtained by
|
|
CPSR through the Freedom of Information Act, NIST recommended that the
|
|
algorithm be "public, unclassified, implementable in both hardware or
|
|
software, usable by federal Agencies and U.S. based multi-national
|
|
corporation." However, the Clipper proposal and the full-blown Capstone
|
|
configuration that resulted is very different: the Clipper algorithm,
|
|
Skipjack, is classified; public access to the reasons underlying the
|
|
proposal is restricted; Skipjack can be implemented only in
|
|
tamper-proof hardware; it is unlikely to be used by multi-national
|
|
corporations, and the security of Clipper remains unproven.
|
|
The Clipper proposal undermines the central purpose of the
|
|
Computer Security Act. Although intended for broad use in commercial
|
|
networks, it was not developed at the request of either U.S. business
|
|
or the general public. It does not reflect public goals.
|
|
The premise of the Clipper key escrow arrangement is that the
|
|
government must have the ability to intercept electronic
|
|
communications. However, there is no legal basis to support this
|
|
premise. In law there is nothing inherently illegal or suspect about
|
|
the use of a telephone. The federal wiretap statute says only that
|
|
communication service providers must assist law enforcement execute a
|
|
lawful warrant.
|
|
CPSR supports the review of cryptography policy currently
|
|
underway at the Department of Commerce. CPSR also supports the efforts
|
|
undertaken by the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance to
|
|
study the full ramifications of the Clipper proposal. However, we are
|
|
not pleased about the review now being undertaken at the White House.
|
|
That effort has led to a series of secret meetings, has asked that
|
|
scientists sign non-disclosure agreements and accept restrictions on
|
|
publication, and has attempted to resolve public concerns through
|
|
private channels. This is not a good process for the evaluation of a
|
|
technology that is proposed for the public switched network.
|
|
Even if the issues regarding Clipper are resolved favorably,
|
|
privacy concerns will not go away. Rules still need to be developed
|
|
about the collection and use of transactional data generated by
|
|
computer communications. Several specific steps should be taken.
|
|
First, the FCC should be given a broad mandate to pursue privacy
|
|
concerns. Second, current gaps in the communications law should be
|
|
filled. The protection of transactional records is particularly
|
|
important. Third, telecommunications companies should be encouraged to
|
|
explore innovative ways to protect privacy. "Telephone cards", widely
|
|
available in other countries, are an ideal way to protect privacy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
TESTIMONY
|
|
|
|
Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
|
|
opportunity to testify today on encryption policy and the Clipper
|
|
proposal. I especially wish to thank you Congressman Markey, on behalf
|
|
of CPSR, for your ongoing efforts on the privacy front as well as your
|
|
work to promote public access to electronic information.
|
|
The cryptography issue is of particular concern to CPSR.
|
|
During the past several years we have pursued an extensive study of
|
|
cryptography policy in the United States. We have organized several
|
|
public conferences, conducted litigation under the Freedom of
|
|
Information Act, and appeared on a number of panels to discuss the
|
|
importance of cryptography for privacy protection and the need to
|
|
scrutinize carefully government proposals designed to limit the use of
|
|
this technology.
|
|
While we do not represent any particular computer company or
|
|
trade association we do speak for a great many people in the computer
|
|
profession who value privacy and are concerned about the government's
|
|
Clipper initiative.
|
|
Today I will briefly summarize our assessment of the Clipper
|
|
proposal. Then I would like to say a few words about the current
|
|
status of privacy protection.
|
|
|
|
CLIPPER
|
|
To put the Clipper proposal in a policy context, I will need to
|
|
briefly to describe a law passed in 1987 intended to address the roles
|
|
of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Defense in the
|
|
development of technical standards. The Computer Security Act of 1987
|
|
was enacted to improve computer security in the federal government, to
|
|
clarify the responsibilities of the National Institute of Standards and
|
|
Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency, and to ensure that
|
|
technical standards would serve civilian and commercial needs.
|
|
The law made clear that in the area of unclassified computing
|
|
systems, NIST and not NSA, would be responsible for the development of
|
|
technical standards. It emphasized public accountability and stressed
|
|
open decision-making. The Computer Security Act also established the
|
|
Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board (CSSPAB), charged
|
|
with reviewing the activities of NIST and ensuring that the mandate of
|
|
the law was enforced.
|
|
The Computer Security Act grew out of a concern that classified
|
|
standards and secret meetings would not serve the interests of the
|
|
general public. As the practical applications for cryptography have
|
|
moved from the military and intelligence arenas to the commercial
|
|
sphere, this point has become clear. There is also clearly a conflict
|
|
of interest when an agency tasked with signal interception is also
|
|
given authority to develop standards for network security.
|
|
In the spirit of the Computer Security Act, NIST set out in
|
|
1989 to develop a public key standard FIPS (Federal Information
|
|
Processing Standard). In a memo dated May 5, 1989, obtained by CPSR
|
|
through the Freedom of Information Act, NIST said that it planned:
|
|
|
|
to develop the necessary public-key based security standards. We
|
|
require a public-key algorithm for calculating digital signatures and
|
|
we also require a public-key algorithm for distributing secret keys.
|
|
|
|
NIST then went on to define the requirements of the standard:
|
|
|
|
The algorithms that we use must be public, unclassified, implementable
|
|
in both hardware or software, usable by federal Agencies and U.S. based
|
|
multi-national corporation, and must provide a level of security
|
|
sufficient for the protection of unclassified, sensitive information
|
|
and commercial propriety and/or valuable information.
|
|
|
|
The Clipper proposal and the full-blown Capstone configuration,
|
|
which incorporates the key management function NIST set out to develop
|
|
in 1989, is very different from the one originally conceived by NIST.
|
|
|
|
% The Clipper algorithm, Skipjack, is classified,
|
|
% Public access to the reasons underlying the proposal is
|
|
restricted,
|
|
% Skipjack can be implemented only in tamper-proof hardware,
|
|
% It is Unlikely to be used by multi-national corporations, and
|
|
% The security of Clipper remains unproven.
|
|
|
|
The Clipper proposal undermines the central purpose of the
|
|
Computer Security Act. Although intended for broad use in commercial
|
|
networks, it was not developed at the request of either U.S. business
|
|
or the general public. It does not reflect public goals. Rather it
|
|
reflects the interests of one secret agency with the authority to
|
|
conduct foreign signal intelligence and another government agency
|
|
responsible for law enforcement investigations.
|
|
Documents obtained by CPSR through the Freedom of Information
|
|
Act indicate that the National Security Agency dominated the meetings
|
|
of the joint NIST/NSA Technical Working group which made
|
|
recommendations to NIST regarding public key cryptography, and that a
|
|
related technical standard for message authentication, the Digital
|
|
Signature Standard, clearly reflected the interests of the NSA.
|
|
We are still trying to determine the precise role of the NSA in
|
|
the development of the Clipper proposal. We would be pleased to
|
|
provide to the Subcommittee whatever materials we obtain.
|
|
|
|
LEGAL AND POLICY ISSUES
|
|
There are also several legal and constitutional issues raised
|
|
by the government's key escrow proposal. The premise of the Clipper
|
|
key escrow arrangement is that the government must have the ability to
|
|
intercept electronic communications, regardless of the economic or
|
|
societal costs. The FBI's Digital Telephony proposal, and the earlier
|
|
Senate bill 266, were based on the same assumption.
|
|
There are a number of arguments made in defense of this
|
|
position: that privacy rights and law enforcement needs must be
|
|
balanced, or that the government will be unable to conduct criminal
|
|
investigations without this capability.
|
|
Regardless of how one views these various claims, there is one
|
|
point about the law that should be made very clear: currently there is
|
|
no legal basis -- in statute, the Constitution or anywhere else --
|
|
that supports the premise which underlies the Clipper proposal. As the
|
|
law currently stands, surveillance is not a design goal. General
|
|
Motors would have a stronger legal basis for building cars that could
|
|
go no faster than 65 miles per hour than AT&T does in marketing a
|
|
commercial telephone that has a built-in wiretap capability. In law
|
|
there is simply nothing about the use of a telephone that is inherently
|
|
illegal or suspect.
|
|
The federal wiretap statute says only that communication
|
|
service providers must assist law enforcement in the execution of a
|
|
lawful warrant. It does not say that anyone is obligated to design
|
|
systems to facilitate future wire surveillance. That distinction is
|
|
the difference between countries that restrict wire surveillance to
|
|
narrow circumstances defined in law and those that treat all users of
|
|
the telephone network as potential criminals. U.S. law takes the first
|
|
approach. Countries such as the former East Germany took the second
|
|
approach. The use of the phone system by citizens was considered
|
|
inherently suspect and for that reason more than 10,000 people were
|
|
employed by the East German government to listen in on telephone calls.
|
|
It is precisely because the wiretap statute does not contain
|
|
the obligation to incorporate surveillance capability -- the design
|
|
premise of the Clipper proposal -- that the Federal Bureau of
|
|
Investigation introduced the Digital Telephony legislation. But that
|
|
legislation has not moved forward and the law has remained unchanged.
|
|
The Clipper proposal attempts to accomplish through the
|
|
standard-setting and procurement process what the Congress has been
|
|
unwilling to do through the legislative process.
|
|
On legal grounds, adopting the Clipper would be a mistake.
|
|
There is an important policy goal underlying the wiretap law. The
|
|
Fourth Amendment and the federal wiretap statute do not so much balance
|
|
competing interests as they erect barriers against government excess
|
|
and define the proper scope of criminal investigation. The purpose of
|
|
the federal wiretap law is to restrict the government, it is not to
|
|
coerce the public.
|
|
Therefore, if the government endorses the Clipper proposal, it
|
|
will undermine the basic philosophy of the federal wiretap law and the
|
|
fundamental values embodied in the Constitution. It will establish a
|
|
technical mechanism for signal interception based on a premise that has
|
|
no legal foundation. The assumption underlying the Clipper proposal is
|
|
more compatible with the practice of telephone surveillance in the
|
|
former East Germany than it is with the narrowly limited circumstances
|
|
that wire surveillance has been allowed in the United States.
|
|
|
|
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
|
|
There are a number of other legal issues that have not been
|
|
adequately considered by the proponents of the key escrow arrangement
|
|
that the Subcommittee should examine. First, not all lawful wiretaps
|
|
follow a normal warrant process. The proponents of Clipper should make
|
|
clear how emergency wiretaps will be conducted before the proposal goes
|
|
forward. Second, there may be civil liability issues for the escrow
|
|
agents, if they are private parties, if there is abuse or compromise of
|
|
the keys. Third, there is a Fifth Amendment dimension to the proposed
|
|
escrow key arrangement if a network user is compelled to disclose his
|
|
or her key to the government in order to access a communications
|
|
network. Each one of these issues should be examined carefully.
|
|
|
|
|
|
CPSR CONFERENCE
|
|
At a conference organized by CPSR this week at the Carnegie
|
|
Endowment for International Peace we heard presentations from staff
|
|
members at NIST, FBI, NSA and the White House about the Clipper
|
|
proposal. The participants at the meeting had the opportunity to ask
|
|
questions and to exchange views.
|
|
Certain points now seem clear:
|
|
|
|
% The Clipper proposal was not developed in response to any
|
|
perceived public or business need. It was developed solely to address
|
|
a law enforcement concern.
|
|
% Wire surveillance remains a small part of law enforcement
|
|
investigations. The number of arrests resulting from wiretaps has
|
|
remained essentially unchanged since the federal wiretap law was enacted
|
|
in 1968.
|
|
% The potential risks of the Clipper proposal have not been
|
|
assessed and many questions about the implementation remain unanswered.
|
|
% Clipper does not appear to have the support of the business or
|
|
research community.
|
|
|
|
Many comments on the Clipper proposal, both positive and
|
|
negative as well the materials obtained by CPSR through the Freedom of
|
|
Information Act, are contained in the Source book compiled by CPSR for
|
|
the recent conference. I am please to make a copy of this available to
|
|
the Subcommittee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NETWORK PRIVACY PROTECTION
|
|
Communications privacy remains a critical test for network
|
|
development. Networks that do not provide a high degree of privacy are
|
|
clearly less useful to network users. Given the choice between a
|
|
cryptography product without a key escrow and one with a key escrow, it
|
|
would be difficult to find a user who would prefer the key escrow
|
|
requirement. If this proposal does go forward, it will not be because
|
|
network users or commercial service providers favored it.
|
|
Even if the issues regarding the Clipper are resolved
|
|
favorably, privacy concerns will not go away. Cryptography is a part
|
|
of communications privacy, but it is only a small part. Rules still
|
|
need to be developed about the collection and use of transactional data
|
|
generated by computer communications. While the federal wiretap law
|
|
generally does a very good job of protecting the content of
|
|
communications against interception by government agencies, large holes
|
|
still remain. The extensive use of subpoenas by the government to
|
|
obtain toll records and the sale of telephone records by private
|
|
companies are just two examples of gaps in current law.
|
|
The enforcement of privacy laws is also a particularly serious
|
|
concern in the United States. Good laws without clear mechanisms for
|
|
enforcement raise over-arching questions about the adequacy of legal
|
|
protections in this country. This problem is known to those who have
|
|
followed developments with the Privacy Act since passage in 1974 and
|
|
the more recent Video Privacy and Protection Act of 1988. I make this
|
|
point because it has been the experience in other countries that
|
|
agencies charged with the responsibility for privacy protection can be
|
|
effective advocates for the public in the protection of personal
|
|
privacy.
|
|
|
|
RECOMMENDATIONS
|
|
Regarding the Clipper proposal, we believe that the national
|
|
review currently underway by the Computer Security and Privacy Advisory
|
|
Board at the Department of Commerce will be extremely useful and we
|
|
look forward to the results of that effort. The Panel has already
|
|
conducted a series of important open hearings and compiled useful
|
|
materials on Clipper and cryptography policy for public review.
|
|
We are also pleased that the Subcommittee on Telecommunications
|
|
and Finance has undertaken this hearing. This Subcommittee can play a
|
|
particularly important role in the resolution of these issues. We also
|
|
appreciate the Chairman's efforts to ensure that the proper studies are
|
|
undertaken, that the General Accounting Office fully explores these
|
|
issues, and that the Secretary of Commerce carefully assesses the
|
|
potential impact of the Clipper proposal on export policy.
|
|
We are, however, less pleased about the White House study
|
|
currently underway. That effort, organized in large part by the
|
|
National Security Council, has led to a series of secret meetings, has
|
|
asked that scientists sign non-disclosure agreements and accept
|
|
restrictions on publication, and has attempted to resolve public
|
|
concerns through private channels. This is not a good process for the
|
|
evaluation of a technology that is proposed for the public switched
|
|
network. While we acknowledge that the White House has been reasonably
|
|
forthcoming in explaining the current state of affairs, we do not think
|
|
that this process is a good one.
|
|
For these reasons, we believe that the White House should
|
|
properly defer to the recommendations of the Computer System Security
|
|
and Privacy Advisory Board and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications
|
|
and Finance. We hope that no further steps in support of the Clipper
|
|
initiative will be taken. We specifically recommend that no further
|
|
purchase of Clipper chips be approved.
|
|
Speaking more generally, we believe that a number of steps
|
|
could be taken to ensure that future communications initiatives could
|
|
properly be viewed as a boost to privacy and not a set-back.
|
|
|
|
% The FCC must be given a strong mandate to pursue privacy
|
|
concerns. There should be an office specifically established to
|
|
examine privacy issues and to prepare reports. Similar efforts in
|
|
other countries have been enormously successful. The Japanese Ministry
|
|
of Post and Telecommunications developed a set of privacy principles to
|
|
ensure continued trade with Europe. The Canada Ministry of
|
|
Communications developed a set of communications principles to address
|
|
public concerns about the privacy of cellular communications. In
|
|
Europe, the EC put forward an important directive on privacy protection
|
|
for the development of new network services.
|
|
|
|
% Current gaps in the communications law should be filled. The
|
|
protection of transactional records is particularly important.
|
|
Legislation is needed to limit law enforcement access to toll record
|
|
information and to restrict the sale of data generated by the use of
|
|
telecommunication services. As the network becomes digital, the
|
|
transaction records associated with a particular communication may
|
|
become more valuable than the content of the communication itself.
|
|
|
|
% Telecommunications companies should be encouraged to explore
|
|
innovative ways to protect privacy. Cryptography is a particular
|
|
method to seal electronic communications, but far more important for
|
|
routine communications could be anonymous telephone cards, similar to
|
|
the metro cards here in the District of Columbia, that allow consumers
|
|
to purchase services without establishing accounts, transferring
|
|
personal data, or recording personal activities. Such cards are widely
|
|
available in Europe, Japan, and Australia.
|
|
|
|
I thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before the
|
|
Subcommittee and would be pleased to answer your questions Computer
|
|
Professionals for Social Responsibility
|
|
|
|
CPSR is a national membership organization, established in
|
|
1982, to address the social impact of computer technology. There are
|
|
2,500 members in 20 chapters across the United States, and offices in
|
|
Palo Alto, California, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington DC. The
|
|
organization is governed by a board of elected officers and meetings
|
|
are open to the public. CPSR sponsors an annual meeting and the
|
|
biennial conference on Directions and Implications of Advanced
|
|
Computing. CPSR sponsored the first conference on Computers, Freedom,
|
|
and Privacy in 1991. CPSR also operates the Internet Library at
|
|
cpsr.org. The library contains documents from the White House on
|
|
technology policy and a wide range of public laws covering privacy,
|
|
access to information, and communications law and is available free of
|
|
charge to all users of the Internet.
|
|
|
|
Marc Rotenberg is the director of the CPSR Washington office
|
|
and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He is
|
|
chairman of the ACM Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights,
|
|
an editor for the Computer Law and Security Report (London), and the
|
|
secretary of Privacy International, an organization of human rights
|
|
advocates and privacy scholars in forty countries. He received an A.B.
|
|
from Harvard College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and is a
|
|
member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court. His forthcoming
|
|
article "Communications Privacy: Implications for Network Design" will
|
|
appear in the August 1993 issue of Communications o0f the ACM.
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------------------------------
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End of Computer Underground Digest #5.43
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************************************
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________________________________________________________________________
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0001600 177c fd13 f000 3011 ccc9 ba18 6823 3cf2
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0001620 0811 2a14 eda0 ddbe 7745 d8e1 c6bf ee7e
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0001640 fa73 d3ec 9a34 8eea 0598 ff85 2133 d0ec
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0001660 e9b1 8cbe add6 a48a 1ae8 80bd efd2 1a9f
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0001700 9ba0 d3d6 4e83 2a9f 8dee 2039 cb9c 5ebf
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0001720 3d41 6e32 8251 bc3c 4231 4e6c 482f d31e
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0001740 6e0e 72dd 164d a663 3d6a 1b44 1a26 9835
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0001760 e4c7 2fd7 11d2 6b25 4335 64e8 b746 da0c
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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The SURFPUNK Technical Journal is a dangerous multinational hacker zine
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originating near BARRNET in the fashionable western arm of the northern
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California matrix. Quantum Californians appear in one of two states,
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spin surf or spin punk. Undetected, we are both, or might be neither.
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________________________________________________________________________
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Send postings to <surfpunk@versant.com>, subscription requests
|
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to <surfpunk-request@versant.com>. MIME encouraged.
|
|
Xanalogical archive access at "http://www.acns.nwu.edu/surfpunk/"
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________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
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/* xor files together, M bytes max */
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#include <stdio.h>
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#define M 9999
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char buf[M];
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char pad[M];
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readin(s)
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|
char* s;
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{
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|
int cc;
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|
int i;
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|
FILE* f= fopen( s, "r" );
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if (!f) {
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perror(s);
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return;
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}
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bzero(buf, sizeof buf);
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cc= fread( buf, 1, M, f );
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for ( i=0; i<M; i++ ) {
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|
pad[i] ^= buf[i];
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}
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|
|
fclose(f);
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}
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printout()
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{
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fwrite( pad, M, 1, stdout );
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}
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|
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|
|
main(argc, argv)
|
|
char** argv;
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|
{
|
|
int i;
|
|
for ( i=1; i<argc; i++ ) {
|
|
readin ( argv[i] );
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|
}
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|
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|
printout();
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|
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|
return 0;
|
|
}
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0002000 e4d8 e725 8869 e54e 1d55 f315 ffd3 e054
|
|
0002020 9b15 0f50 f0fd 3b3d 1e1d 13fc 7c4d 3c1b
|
|
0002040 1a99 f08b 303f f8d4 b792 123c 0937 7aa0
|
|
0002060 d8a3 6670 02a1 5e10 6543 553d 499b a529
|
|
0002100 6790 5c24 71a5 0493 aaab c919 1a1a 6616
|
|
0002120 c113 41c3 82d1 c7da 4ce8 6af5 a2ab 51f0
|
|
0002140 73fe e82f 9daf 776f 1fe6 62d7 ec33 156d
|
|
0002160 a0b5 e1b5 7516 499b df25 573f 9bcd ab3c
|
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|