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From: bhoughto@pima.intel.com (Blair P. Houghton)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.internals
Subject: Re: DES export regulations.  And what to do about it!
Message-ID: <1562@inews.intel.com>
Date: 2 Jan 91 23:39:52 GMT
References: <18874@rpp386.cactus.org> <1548@inews.intel.com> <1991Jan02.202703.8608@decuac.dec.com>
Sender: news@inews.intel.com
Organization: Intel Corp, Chandler, AZ
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In article <1991Jan02.202703.8608@decuac.dec.com> mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
>bhoughto@hopi.intel.com (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>>...i.e., there's something to be said for prohibiting the
>>export of sensitive technologies
>
>Restricting DES source is like banning the sale
>of flint knives to people who have a charge account at Interarms.

There's no sense in giving your enemies free
access to your intellectual property.  If the problem is
that our _allies_ are having trouble getting it, then the
US Department of State is blowing chunks.

Ob. internals:
Yes, RSA is more nasty than DES, but DES is still virtually
infallible.  How much "harder" is it to crack an RSA'ed password than
a DES'ed one?

				--Blair
				  "Call for votes:  talk.politics.unix"