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From: simsong@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Simson L. Garfinkel)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Encryption of satilite broadcasts
Message-ID: <543@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 4-Dec-86 23:52:06 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-amt.543
Posted: Thu Dec  4 23:52:06 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Dec-86 05:39:41 EST
Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 46
Keywords: bomb, explosive, NSA, RSA, (Oh -- is this supposed to be in the .signature?)

Well, it's kind of neat. You pay a real M/A-COM box, you send them $30/month,
and your box "magically" lets you decode. The feeling of the students in my
class on Telecommunications Technology and Policy is that the satelite
broadcasts a message to your box saying "Ok, let your user see the scrambled
stuff now." 

Apparently, there are even provisions to purchase, say, $100 worth of
broadcasting. Then when you turn on your box it gets taken out of your
running account. This number is maintained in your box, not in the satelite.

Now, you're right -- this means that you could build your own box. But it is
a whole lot cheaper simply to use the M/A-COM box than to try to build you
own. At least, that's what M/A-COM is counting on. The real thing about the
this block-box thing might be for people outside the US who would like to
pick up the broadcasts. (Remember, you can't export the M/A-COM because of
export control.)

Almost certainly, the black-box simply pertends that it's always allowed to
play. It's not breaking DES. It's probably not even "breaking" the keys,
since they are almost certainly not transmitted with a public key encryption
system. (Why bother?)

Some hackers get into theft-of-service, even if it costs them ten times more
than the service does. I don't.

================================================================

The reason that treason is defined so explicity in the Constitution is
that there was a lot of fear, in the early days of the republic, that a lot
of people might be liable for aiding the Brittish, or that the charge of
treason would be levied against people for "personal" reasons. So it's
really hard to do. It's done, but it's really hard. Usually much easier to
get people for mail fraud, but that's something else again.

================================================================


			Simson L. Garfinkel
			MIT Media Lab

This posting completely reflects my views. Isn't that neat?
-- 
Bomb, terrorist, cryptography, DES, assasinate, secret, decode, NSA, CIA, NRO.
 The above is food for the NSA line eater.  Add it to your .signature and
 you too can help overflow the NSA's ability to scan all traffic going in or
 out of the USA looking for "significant" words.  (This is not a joke, sadly.)