[5026] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Padlock Size was Re: so why is IETF stilling adding DES to protocols? (Re: It's official... DES is History)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Geer)
Tue Jun 29 12:51:27 1999
To: Steve Mynott <steve@tightrope.demon.co.uk>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 27 Jun 1999 09:48:57 EDT."
<19990627094857.A27870@tightrope.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 22:31:01 -0400
From: Dan Geer <geer@world.std.com>
> The point is that in Netscape, it is very hard to tell if a given link
> is 40 bit or 128 bit. Sure, with enough poking around looking at page
> info you could probably figure it out. Or maybe someone knows if the
> little padlock means something like the little key used to. But I'm a
> crypto-sophisticated person, and I don't know. What about people who
> don't understand the technology at all?
Good point
1. when evaluating, never underestimate the lure of convenience
2. Paul Kocher has found, as I recall, that the percentage of
browsers that are 40bit is *growing* because of the inconvenience
and invasiveness of what extra effort it takes to get your hands
on the 128bit stuff.
3. having inertia & ignorance on your side is strongly advantageous
--dan
