AGTK 97190: Verschluesseln. 26.09.97 Von August Hoerandl: In der Newsgroup comp.risks fand ich folgenden Artikel: (Anmerkung: Ron Rivest ist das R von RSA - einer der Experten fuer Verschluesseln) RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Monday 8 September 1997 Volume 19:Issue 37 Date: Sun, 07 Sep 97 21:43:23 EDT From: rivest@THEORY.LCS.MIT.EDU (Ron Rivest) Subject: !!! FBI wants to ban the Bible and smiley faces !!! Congress is apparently considering legislation that would make it illegal to post portions of the Bible on the Internet. FBI Director Louis Freeh wants to make it illegal to use secret codes on the Internet that the FBI can't break, and some members of Congress have been drafting legislation in support of Freeh's position. However, such a law might have startling consequences. A recent best-selling book, "The Bible Code," claims that the Bible is full of secret messages and codes. These messages are only partially decoded so far. If true, the proposed legislation would make it illegal to post the Bible on the Internet, unless someone provides the FBI with a way to decode all of these secret messages contained within the Bible. Another consequence would require you to register your "smiley faces" with the FBI. It is common to use smiley faces to convey meanings. For example, the face ;-) is usually interpreted as a "wink". (If you haven't seen such smiley faces before, just rotate them ninety degrees.) Such smiley faces are an example of a "substitution code", where one symbol (such as ;-) ) is substituted for another (such as "wink"). Substitution codes are a classic cryptographic technique. The proposed law would require you to register your list of smiley faces with the FBI. Otherwise, the FBI might have no way of figuring out what *you* think symbols such as 8-) or :-( might mean. ;-) Ron Rivest P.S., The proposed language would appear to ban the sale of all computers, since they are products "that can be used to encrypt communications or electronic information...". Ron [You think this is early April Fools'? WRONG. Think again. This is just a hint of some VERY SERIOUS stuff. There are many concerned people in the computer security community and in the privacy community who believe that most of the U.S. populace will be the Fools if the newly proposed legislation goes through. If you want more background, read my Senate testimony from 9 Jul 1997 and my follow-up responses, 2 Sep 1997, to questions from Senators Thurmond, Grassley, Leahy, and Feinstein, directed at panelists by Senator Hatch, which I wrote *before* the newly proposed legislation was introduced, and which seems even more relevant now. The newly proposed legislation seems even more draconian than the earlier McCain-Kerrey bill in the Senate: MANDATORY KEY RECOVERY in sheep's clothing. PGN] --- MfG Martin Weissenboeck --- --- E-Mail: mweissen@ccc.at Tel: +43-1-369 88 58-10 --- Gatterburggasse 7, A-1190 Wien Fax: +43-1-369 88 58-77 ------- This message was distributed via the Listserver of the CCC (Computer Communications Club) - (e-mail 'ccc@ccc.or.at' for info's). To unsubscribe from the list send a message to listserv@ccc.or.at with the following command in the message body: 'unsubscribe agtk' .