IP: my reply to Willis

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 20:43:19 -0500
From: Jock Gill <jgill () penfield-gill com>


David,


Willis H Ware wrote an=A0 interesting note.=A0 While I can agree with the
idea that the Marsh team may have done well to avoid the crypto tar
baby, I think the issue is that steganography is not well understood by
the general public.=A0 If we are to have a debate, let's get all of the
ideas on the table.=A0 It is neither useful nor good democratic form to
not allow the full range of issues to be discussed.=A0 Where has the
discussion of steganography been?=A0 What are the implications of
steganography. Steganography aside, would it have been useful for
the Marsh team to discuss how hard cryptography might solve
some of their issues?=A0 How many? Which ones?


In the end, the Marsh team fails to help us understand how many
infrastructure problems remain if we allowed for hard cryptography.
This is the price they pay for avoiding the tar baby.=A0 They must be
incomplete and not fully able to advise of us of all of the
possibilities for solutions.


My main concern for the Marsh report is that it does not articulate the
need for a distributed solution to the distributed problems they have
identified.=A0 A centralized solution of the old industrial command and
control nature is most likely not going to work well.=A0 In so far as hard


cryptography is a distributed solution to a distributed threat, then it
may in fact be an appropriate solution.


Regards,


Jock







--
____________________________________________________________________
Jock Gill
jgill () penfield-gill com
www.penfield-gill.com
____________________________________________________________________=20








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"Photons have neither morals nor visas"  --  Dave Farber 1994
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