[9733] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Thawte Protects The World From Crypto (was Re: [ Slashdot
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bram Cohen)
Tue Oct 30 16:02:32 2001
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:15:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Bram Cohen <bram@gawth.com>
To: Peter Gutmann <pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz>
Cc: Crypto List <cryptography@wasabisystems.com>
In-Reply-To: <200110301428.DAA241534@ruru.cs.auckland.ac.nz>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0110300911280.22321-100000@ultra.gawth.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> As was mentioned on the Slashdot debate, this has nothing to do with crypto but
> is for AuthentiCode signing certs. Blaming this move in terrorists therefore
> makes it even more bizarre. According to Thawte (via Slashdot), they were just
> following orders from Verisign. The only explanation I can think of is that
> it's some attempt by MS to further lock small developers out of XP/.NET
> (alongside charging $1K/year for developers and similar things), but that's
> pretty far-fetched.
Not all that far-fetched, mostly I'm not sure microsoft has that much
influence on verisign.
I'd say the most likely explanations are (a) that verisign intends to
change a lot more for a related service which that one would undercut or
(b) the division was losing money so they just canned it. I'm cynical
enough to guess (b)
In any case, it's a safe bet that blaming it on the WTC attacks is
bullshit.
-Bram Cohen
"Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent"
-- John Maynard Keynes
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