[Cryptography] soft chewy center

[bmanning at vacation.karoshi.com]

much of the discussion these past few weeks seems to be centered on channel and container 
protection, secure paths,  encrypted file systems, etc.  much effort has gone into ensureing
opaque environments for data to flow.   and while interesting and perhaps useful, not a whole lot 
of effort seems to targeting the integrity of the data itself. wrapping the soft chewy middle
with a hard candy shell can and does hide the fact that your core/data may be rotten.

some years back, i was part of a debate on the relative value of crypto - and it was pointed
out that for some sectors,  crypto ensured _failure_ simply because processing the bits introduced
latency.  for these sectors, speed was paramount.

think HFT or any sort of "Flash Mob" event where you want in/out as quickly as possible.  

crypto in and of itself is not a generator of value. Sprinkeling Security/Crypto pixie dust
on -everything- can not be a good idea.   

Just my 0.02 lira.   Jari and Stephen, please don't take the IETF there - its a wasteland.

/bill