[148538] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: [Cryptography] Chinese Cryptography
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Phillip Hallam-Baker)
Thu Dec 19 17:58:42 2013
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <CAHWD2rKb5DF11PtCYnrkxQK7UMov6600BobwCpJ6H5_d3knZBQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 17:51:25 -0500
From: Phillip Hallam-Baker <hallam@gmail.com>
To: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Lodewijk_andr=E9_de_la_porte?= <l@odewijk.nl>
Cc: Richard Outerbridge <outer@interlog.com>,
Cryptography Mailing List <cryptography@metzdowd.com>
Errors-To: cryptography-bounces+crypto.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@metzdowd.com
--===============6364353986654141639==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=047d7bd6b9ac54340704edeb0071
--047d7bd6b9ac54340704edeb0071
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 2:05 PM, Lodewijk andr=E9 de la porte <l@odewijk.nl=
>wrote:
> It's all stolen from America?
>
They do have an impressive research and teaching program.
But the habit of stealing technology means that it is very hard for their
native talent to find employment at home to do anything other than
reverse-engineer western designs. They are really shooting themselves in
the feet.
Good call though. Wonder if they have their own cyphers. Maybe their
> espionage works well. In that case they can know if the Americans have
> tricks around their own cyphers, and they just use those that can't be
> broken. Or that can be broken, in those special cases.
>
Don't need to wonder, yes they do.
In fact every single WiFi router on the market today has code to implement
a bunch of Chinese ciphers. It is impossible to sell the routers in China
without the code being in the router. But the code does not have to
actually be active. So many (all?) of the routers have code of the form
if (false) { register_Chinese_crypto_suite () }
This is not as daft as it seems. One of the things that China is really
peeved about is having to pay for US patent licenses. They are just as
upset when they have to pay for a legit patent of course but the fact that
many of the patents are obviously spurious and should never have been
issued they see them as being a non tariff trade barrier.
Requiring the use of their own patented technology is a way to repatriate
some of the money to China in a way that makes it easy to ensure that a
good portion of it flows into the pockets of party chiefs or their families=
.
Graft is a much bigger driver of international diplomacy than most people
believe.
--=20
Website: http://hallambaker.com/
--047d7bd6b9ac54340704edeb0071
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<div dir=3D"ltr"><br><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quo=
te">On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 2:05 PM, Lodewijk andr=E9 de la porte <span dir=
=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:l@odewijk.nl" target=3D"_blank">l@odewijk.nl=
</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1p=
x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_extra">=
It's all stolen from America?<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br></di=
v><div>
They do have an impressive research and teaching program.</div><div><br></d=
iv><div>But the habit of stealing technology means that it is very hard for=
their native talent to find employment at home to do anything other than r=
everse-engineer western designs. They are really shooting themselves in the=
feet.</div>
<div><br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex=
;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=
=3D"gmail_extra"></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra">Good call though. Wonder =
if they have their own cyphers. Maybe their espionage works well. In that c=
ase they can know if the Americans have tricks around their own cyphers, an=
d they just use those that can't be broken. Or that can be broken, in t=
hose special cases.</div>
</div>
</blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>Don't need to wonder, yes they d=
o.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact every single WiFi router on the market =
today has code to implement a bunch of Chinese ciphers. It is impossible to=
sell the routers in China without the code being in the router. But the co=
de does not have to actually be active. So many (all?) of the routers have =
code of the form</div>
<div><br></div><div>if (false) { register_Chinese_crypto_suite () }</div><d=
iv><br></div><div><br></div><div>This is not as daft as it seems. One of th=
e things that China is really peeved about is having to pay for US patent l=
icenses. They are just as upset when they have to pay for a legit patent of=
course but the fact that many of the patents are obviously spurious and sh=
ould never have been issued they see them as being a non tariff trade barri=
er.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Requiring the use of their own patented technology is a=
way to repatriate some of the money to China in a way that makes it easy t=
o ensure that a good portion of it flows into the pockets of party chiefs o=
r their families.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Graft is a much bigger driver of interna=
tional diplomacy than most people believe.=A0</div><div><br></div><div><br>=
</div>-- <br>Website: <a href=3D"http://hallambaker.com/">http://hallambake=
r.com/</a><br>
</div></div>
--047d7bd6b9ac54340704edeb0071--
--===============6364353986654141639==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
_______________________________________________
The cryptography mailing list
cryptography@metzdowd.com
http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
--===============6364353986654141639==--
