[2240] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: meganet... for all your snake oil needs!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (C Matthew Curtin)
Mon Mar 2 20:13:31 1998
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 17:09:31 -0500 (EST)
From: C Matthew Curtin <cmcurtin@interhack.net>
To: "Stephen Cobb, CISSP" <stephen@iu.net>
Cc: perry@piermont.com, cryptography@c2.net
In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980302155214.0093fc10@iu.net>
Reply-To: cmcurtin@interhack.net
>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen Cobb, CISSP <stephen@iu.net> writes:
Stephen> What is worrying about stuff like this is the fact that so
Stephen> many "news" sites on the net, and even paper publications,
Stephen> now reprint press releases as though they are
Stephen> articles. Unless the press release itself uses terms like
Stephen> "claims" or "suggests" then whatever the press release says
Stephen> comes across as declared fact.
Reducing the danger of this happening on a large scale was the primary
motivation for the Snake Oil FAQ. While the USENET cryptography FAQ,
and RSA's Cryptography FAQ are both excellent resources for folks
interested in cryptography, they're not really digestible for Joe
Average Reporter who is in a hurry to get something in print with his
name on the byline. It's also hoped that it's sufficiently lucid for
the information system manager who needs to find ways to secure his
company's digital resources to be able to understand it and what to
look out for.
I'm always interested in constructive criticism on it and looking for
ways to get it more widely distributed to end users, IS managers,
reporters, and anyone else that might be able to benefit.
Snake Oil FAQ: http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/snake-oil-faq.html
--
Matt Curtin cmcurtin@interhack.net http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/
