IP: Encryption Teams Circle, Firing Away

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

> From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
> To: "Dave e-mail pamphleteer Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/circuits/articles/09next.html
>
> Encryption Teams Circle, Firing Away
>
> By PETER WAYNER
> The New York Times
>
> The basic theory behind football, boxing and other collision sports is to find
> the strongest contestants by bumping them into one another. Now the National
> Institute of Standards and Technology is using this method to choose a new
> encryption standard to protect credit card numbers, personal data and other
> secrets as they travel over the Internet.
>
> Teams of code makers are not only submitting new standards but also trying to
> break the codes of other teams. The winner, to be picked by the institute next
> year, will be knighted as the "advanced encryption standard" and embraced by
> Government computers. The private sector should eventually follow.
>
> Fifteen teams of code makers entered the competition last year and immediately
> set out trying to unravel their rivals' efforts. Several promising 
> entries have
> already been shredded by rival mathematicians, and contestants are whispering
> about whose codes will be next to fall. What is at stake is fame rather than
> fortune because the institute requires the winner to forgo any royalties.
>
> <snip>
>
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> Geoff_Goodfellow () iconia com, Prague CZ * tel/mobil +420 (0)603 706 558
> "Success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html