[426] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA responds to criticism over weakening cellular crypto
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Bellovin)
Fri Mar 21 21:11:54 1997
To: craig@pacific.net.sg
cc: Eric Blossom <eb@comsec.com>, cryptography@c2.net
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 20:29:17 -0500
From: Steven Bellovin <smb@research.att.com>
Eric Blossom wrote:
> The other slime about the "export problem" for cellular phones is th
at
> there is NO EXPORT PROBLEM. Because of spectrum allocation issues,
> cellular manufacturers have to provide different models to different
> countries anyway. They're already building different versions, so
> there is no "export control" reason not to use good crypto in the US
.
"Different models to different countries" may not be all that true. My
cell phone works without modification in more countries than I can
count. Same frequencies, same standards (viz. GSM). The noteable
exceptions are the US and Japan.
Right -- the U.S. is a notable exception, and this was for a domestic
U.S. phone.
