🚀 go-pugleaf

Last year an article came over the net describing exciting new results in
verification by Adi Shamir.  Some of you may have followed up by writing
to the Weizmann Institute for a copy of his paper.  If so, keep it secret!

(From the Toronto >Globe and Mail<, Report on Business, page B26,
	Wednesday, February 25, 1987)  

	"U.S. warns Israeli coder his idea secret"

	by Nicholas Tatro
	   Associated Press

	TEL AVIV

	An Israeli cryptologist says he has invented an economical method of
shielding computers, credit cards, passports and drivers' licenses from
possible forgery.
	
	The system involves software programs he has developed as well
as so-called "smart" cards - wallet-sized plastic strips containing small
microprocessors with tiny memories, Adi Shamir said in an interview.

	Mr. Shamir and two students, Amos Fiat and Uriel Feige, developed
the system at the Weizmann Institute, Israel's largest independent research
centre.

	Last July, the institute applied for a U.S. patent, saying the
system had potential applications in a wide variety of commercial and military
uses.

	In January, Mr. Shamir received a letter from the U.S. Commerce
Department telling him he faced prosecution if he disclosed information
about his findings.

	"I was sitting in my office here in Israel and got a very
official-looking letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce stating that
unless I fully comply with a long list  of regulations, I would be jailed
for two years and be threatened with a $10,000 fine," he said.

	The case raises questions about the extent to which the U.S. Government
can restrict private or academic research in sensitive areas, especially
when it is carried out by non-Americans.

	"I was born in Israel, raised in Israel and educated in Israel,"
Mr. Shamir said.  "That's why I was surprised to get this letter."

	He was to deliver a scientific paper on the project in May to a
conference on theoretical computer science in New York City.  After receiving
the letter, he wrote to the program committee about the order, which required
the committee to retrieve and destroy all advance copies of his paper.

	Kenneth Cage, a lawyer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
said he could not comment on the specifics of a pending patent application.
He said his office has the power to issue secrecy orders to U.S. citizens
if release of information in a proposed patent is deemed harmful to national
security.

	Of 125,000 patent applications last year, about 6,000 were relayed
to the Defense Department for review and secrecy orders eventually were
issued on about 150, Mr. Cage said.

	Mr. Shamir attributes the secrecy order in his case to a bureaucratic
foul-up, perhaps stemming from the application's mention of possible military
uses that were not specified.

	His invention enables people to prove something without giving
away important information.  It is an outgrowth of a mathematical discovery
called zero-knowledge proof, which allows one mathematician to convince
another of a proposition's truth without revealing details of the proof.

	In the case of credit cards, such a technique can be used to prove
a credit card is valid without giving the number to someone who would misuse
it.

	The same technique could protect computer systems from invasion
by hackers.

[--- 30 ---]

"20/8/86
	Enclosed you will find the extended abstract of the paper you requested.
The full paper is still in preparation, but most of the material (with
the exception of some technical proofs and implementation details) appears
in the extended abstract.
	The Weizmann Institute of Science has filed a patent on the new
invention.  The commercial aspects of this patent are handled by

	Mr. I. Kohlberg
	Yeda Research and Development
	The Weizmann Institute of Science
	Rehevot 76100
	Israel

	Please feel free to contact him if you are interested in using
the new schemes."

	Even if you're not interested in using the new schemes, you might as
well request a copy of the enclosed paper.  Sure to be a collectors' item!

		HOW TO PROVE YOURSELF:
	PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO IDENTIFICATION
		AND SIGNATURE PROBLEMS

		Amos Fiat and Adi Shamir
		Department of Applied Mathematics
		The Weizmann Institute of Science
		Rehevot 76100, Israel

		May 1986 (Extended Abstract)

Hey!  You Americans!!  What's going >on< down there?
-- 
Richard Outerbridge	<outer@utcsri.UUCP>	 (416) 961-4757
Payload Deliveries:	N 43 39'36", W 79 23'42", Elev. 106.47m.