Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcilzb!tedj
From: tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Encryption
Message-ID: <870215@hpcilzb.HP.COM>
Date: 15 Aug 88 17:29:16 GMT
References: <7596@trwrb.UUCP>
Organization: HP Design Tech Center - Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 49

>.Whatever happened to Public Key encryption? (If memory serves it was also 
>.refered to as RSK after the initials of its developers).
>
>you  will find it in the stores as no government that I know of is willing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>to allow a non-decryptable (by them) code into the public hand, especially
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>the progressive American government, but mine (the Israeli) as well.  I don't

The new version of Ted Nelson's Computer Lib/Dream Machines book (pages 164-
167) say this also.  Supposedly the government is trying to suppress the
details of the RSA (Rivest, Shamir, Adleman) code, because they can't
break it.

From the above book (reprinted w/out permission):

"As Rivest, Shamir and Adleman were preparing to send out the paper,
they received a notification that they had better not.  The order came
from an official of the National Security Agency, J.A. Meyer.

Now everything hit the fan.

It seemed clear to a lot of people that the government (and the Spooks
to boot) were attempting to THWART FOREVER any hope of privacy and 
freedom in the future.

People sprang into action.  Already a few copies of the paper by Rivest,
Shamir and Adleman had been handed out; brave souls throughout the
country got busy duplicating these, and sending them out to whomever
they thought might care.  Hundreds of researchers and concerned computerfolk
got plain brown envelopes in which the details of the RSA code (for
Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) were explained.

Rivest, Shamir and Adleman did not get into trouble; and because that cat
was already out of the bag, the government backed off, and allowed the
paper to be published.  But THEREAFTER, under a "gentlemen's agreement",
all articles on codes have been checked with government agents, and
published only with permission.

So basically nobody in the academic world can publish articles on codes
any more, and a spook from the NSA attends every session on Number Theory
at mathematical meetings."


Does anyone have a copy of this paper?  Please send me e-mail...!

Thanks!

-Ted