[Cryptography] Chaum Has a Plan to End the Crypto War

Paul Ferguson fergdawgster at mykolab.com
Thu Jan 7 13:01:14 EST 2016


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On 1/7/2016 8:31 AM, Jerry Leichter wrote:

> 
>> Call me crazy but there have been times past were I have wondered
>> if Chaum wasn't one of the worst things that has happened to
>> cryptography. Or at least the effective merger of cryptography
>> and finance, which is maybe the same thing.
>> 
>> Now we have what amounts to the Chaumian "Star Chamber...."
> Actually, the problem is a bit broader than that.  The politicians
> will now be able to say "Look, you techies said this was
> impossible, but you were either just wrong or you lied.  It *is*
> possible.  Chaum showed you.  So now go off and build us the golden
> key."
> 
> Anyone who's worked as a tech person in industry knows the pattern.
> A manager (or often a sales guy) comes along and says "We need to
> build X".  The tech person says "X can't be done".  But something
> that's impossible is an itch to a techie, and eventually he comes
> up with some really hacky, ugly method that'll cause his successors
> to curse him forever as they try to support it - and he hints
> "well, maybe if...".  And sure enough, X now becomes a
> requirement.
> 
> Even after being burned repeatedly, I still have to discipline
> myself to stick to "no, it's impossible" in such situations.
> 

Tweet of The Week:

"Security experts: Backdoors weaken security. They're a bad idea."
"Chaum: I've built a new system with a backdoor."
"FBI: See? It is possible."
    — Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) January 6, 2016

https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/684730921153609728

Via:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160106/09090233253/pioneer-internet-
anonymity-hands-fbi-huge-gift-building-dangerous-backdoored-encryption-s
ystem.shtml

- - ferg

- -- 
Paul Ferguson
PGP Public Key ID: 0x54DC85B2
Key fingerprint: 19EC 2945 FEE8 D6C8 58A1 CE53 2896 AC75 54DC 85B2
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