[44770] in Cypherpunks
Re: Solution for US/Foreign Software?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Timothy C. May)
Wed Dec 6 02:26:55 1995
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 00:39:44 -0800
To: jimbell@pacifier.com (jim bell), cypherpunks@toad.com
From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
jim bell proposes "crypto hooks":
>1. Write a program with limited encryption (40 bit?), with the encryption
>module in a file external to the main program.
>2. Get export approval for this program.
>3. Write a module which replaces the encryption file, increasing key size
>to whatever you REALLY wanted in the first place. (128-bit IDEA, 2000-bit
>PGP, etc.)
>4. Ship that new module with the old software to US customers.
>Naturally, that new module will "leak," so anybody who buys the old
>program out of the country can convert to a fully-functional version by
>downloading it from a foreign bbs that just happens to have it. The
>module can be encrypted/signed by the manufacturer so everyone can be sure
>of its identity and genuineness.
>
>
>Better than nothing, I suppose.
"Crypto hooks," basically the scheme you are proposing, were thought of by
the authorities and are not a bypass of the crypto export laws.
--Tim May
Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."
