[4019] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: France Allows 128 Bit Crypto
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alan Olsen)
Wed Jan 20 17:50:33 1999
From: "Alan Olsen" <alano@adams.pcx.ncd.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 11:17:05 -0800
In-Reply-To: "Black Unicorn" <unicorn@schloss.li>
"RE: France Allows 128 Bit Crypto" (Jan 19, 10:40pm)
To: "Black Unicorn" <unicorn@schloss.li>, <mmotyka@lsil.com>,
"Enzo Michelangeli" <em@who.net>
Cc: <cryptography@c2.net>, <privacy@ssrc.hku.hk>
On Jan 19, 10:40pm, Black Unicorn wrote:
> Subject: RE: France Allows 128 Bit Crypto
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-cryptography@c2.net [mailto:owner-cryptography@c2.net]On
> > Behalf Of Michael Motyka
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 1999 8:31 PM
> > To: Enzo Michelangeli
> > Cc: cryptography@c2.net; privacy@ssrc.hku.hk
> > Subject: Re: France Allows 128 Bit Crypto
> >
> >
> > Enzo,
> >
> > > Time to sing the Marseillaise again? :-)
> > >
> > Hum it softly, maybe,
> >
> > > - To supplement the current legal framework by the introduction of
> > > obligations, together with penal sanctions, concerning the handing-over
> > > to the legal authorities, when they require it, of the cleartext
> > > version of encrypted documents.
> > >
> > but this says: "if we want the key you have to give it to us or go to
> > jail."
>
> Well, even worse. It implies that you might be compelled to produce the
> PLAINTEXT, not just the key. That could present problems for
> crypto-protection by multi-jurisdictional key-splitting applications.
>
> Clearly, this has to be nailed down. It could get ugly.
Furthermore, there are applications where you do not have the key or the
plaintext. Applications that generate and discard keys on the fly for data
moving between one system to another.
Imagine having, say, an encrypted newsfeed between two sites using a protocol
that generates and discards keys. "Give us the keys and plaintext for these
transactions." "But I don't have the keys." "Give us the plaintext." "That was
expired last week." "Off to jail you go!"
--
Alan Olsen
