[47710] in Cypherpunks
IBM knuckles under
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Edgar Swank)
Mon Jan 22 21:35:10 1996
To: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
From: Edgar Swank <edgar@Garg.Campbell.CA.US>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 96 18:11:09 PST
IBM TO PROVIDE GOVERNMENT WITH ENCRYPTION KEY FOR NOTES
IBM has agreed to provide the U.S. government with a special key that would
enable government agents to more easily decode electronic messages, in
exchange for permission to export a version of Lotus Notes that includes
64-bit security. The arrangement provides government officials with a key
to the first 24 bits of security code, meaning that they only have to crack
the remaining 40 bits to decrypt a message. U.S. Notes customers already
use a 64-bit system. "We were desperate enough to try to negotiate a
short-term, pragmatic solution," says Notes developer Ray Ozzie. "But we do
not believe this is the right long-term solution... Our customers have been
telling us that, unless we did something about the security, we could no
longer call it a secure system." (Wall Street Journal 18 Jan 96 B7)
--
edgar@Garg.Campbell.CA.US (Edgar Swank)
The Land of Garg BBS -- +1 408 378-5108
