[6112] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
they should have used crypto...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven M. Bellovin)
Tue Nov 23 12:42:05 1999
From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
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Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:24:41 -0500
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[ Steve asked me to add:
Perry, could you amend my posting to include the following URL, too:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-Internet-Bookseller-Settlement.html ]
Naturally, those of us on this list advocate routine use of cryptography. But
cases where cryptography or the lack thereof is demonstrably
commercially significant are rare. A new one has just come to light.
According to the 23 November Wall Street Journal (if you subscribe to their
Web site, see http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943305134720688183.htm), a
rare book dealer has pleaded guilty to intercepting more than 4,000 email
messages, in an effort to gather market intelligence. (The company claimes
that the interceptions were innocent; the Justice Department disagrees.)
Alibris is both a rare book dealer and an ISP serving other book dealers; they
kept copies of messages from Amazon.com to other dealers.
There's no mention in the article about how routine encryption would have
proteced the victims...
--Steve Bellovin
