🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1dm50cINNcse@transfer.stratus.com> cme@ellisun.sw.stratus.com (Carl Ellison) writes:
>In article <1992Nov7.142220.1683@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu> denning@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu writes:
>>I'd like to suggest another possibility, which for want of a
>>better name I'll call the "copper balloon".  It's quite clear that key 
>>registration goes over like a "lead balloon".  My question is: is this 
>>any better?  worse?  I would also like to suggest that we keep this
>>thread focused on this proposal and not on the merits/demerits of
>>wiretapping in general.
>
>One way to separate this conversation from privacy in general is to view
>the copper balloon as a proposal for a nationwide, encrypted voice and data
>service.  In this plan, the phone companies would provide encrypting wired
>phones, cellular phones and modems using the 3-way DH key exchange which
>Dorothy proposes.  These phones (due to volume production) would be cheap
>enough that all business and many personal phones would use encryption.
>The encryption, meanwhile, would be high quality: 1000+ bit DH, 3-fold
>DES-CBC (with a full 360 bits of key).
>
>This has the advantage of cutting down on industrial espionage.
>
>This undercuts companies like Cylink or Racal-Guardata -- doesn't put them
>out of business because you would need their current products to provide
>privacy even from the Gov't -- but you would presumably take away from them
>the business of people who just want to avoid non-gov't espionage.
>
>
>So:  what if the entire national communications infrastructure were
>well encrypted?  People could add their own encryption, of course,
                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^ (+)
>but most wouldn't.  Most are lazy or don't see the need.

Having a system of this sort would probably be acceptable to people,
with the IMPORTANT caveat that people ARE permitted to add their own
encryption.

That "of course" that you put in there (+) is a VERY important one;
those that want private communications legislated out of private hands
rephrase it "of course NOT."

There are a couple of little problems with the system:

- While it may eliminate problems of industrial espionage and the
likes, it doesn't eliminate governmental espionage.  This is pretty
much a given, and IF extra encryption may be added, the "problem"
probably CAN get eliminated.

- People may trust it too much.  It DOES have a big weakness in that
government CAN break it.
-- 
Christopher Browne                |     PGP 2.0 key available
cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca           |===================================
University of Ottawa              |  The Personal Computer:  Colt 45
Master of System Science Program  |  of the Information Frontier