[13757] in Cypherpunks
Re: PGP 2.6 and the future
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Mon May 16 16:32:44 1994
To: nefud-the-delirious@tamu.edu
Cc: Cypherpunks Mailing List <cypherpunks@toad.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 16 May 1994 15:13:26 CDT."
<9405162013.AA00693@elvis.tamu.edu>
Reply-To: perry@imsi.com
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 16:25:44 -0400
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>
Allan Bailey says:
> I'm willing to wager that 2.6 (and maybe 2.5) MIT'd PGP versions
> are hacked by the NSA to put in a backdoor.
> ^^^^^^^^^^ (emphasis added.)
>
> I'll bet you a C-note, Perry.
Done for $100.
> Now how do you propose to prove or disprove this?
The commonly selected way to settle such things is to select a neutral
referee to adjudicate based on available evidence. The source code is
public, so it should it should be trivial to read it and make a
decision as to whether anything untoward has been done. I'll accept
any reasonably expert referee -- my selection of choice would be Hal
Finney since he is a well known cypherpunk, is strongly familiar with
the code and would recognise any tampering. Tampering may be defined
given what you are claiming as the presense of what a reasonable
cryptographer would refer to as a "back door". If you have any other
suggested neutral third parties with requisite skill I'll happily tell
you if they are acceptable. Once we've settled on a judge and they've
accepted the charge (we may need to pay the person for their time), we
present our evidence to the person and allow them to make a decision.
I'll happily bet any larger sum, too, if you like. I'd also request
that a neutral third party hold the stakes. At your choice the party
can be the judge or another individual mutually acceptable.
Perry
