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The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:18:47 ADT
Ben Laurie (ben@algroup.co.uk)
Sat, 20 Jun 1998 00:03:46 +0100
Robert Hettinga wrote:
>
> Screw the contest rules.
>
> The rules are patently bogus, anyway, just like their software.
>
> If someone wants to drop $10 to watch someone else burn cycles to reverse
> engineer it, and for Bruce Schneier to cryptanalyze it, all for publicity
> and entertainment value, then it's probably worth it.
>
> It's like paying for Picasso's paint and canvas, and getting the picture, I
> figure.
>
> No, I *don't* have a pot to piss in, much less $10 :-), but it'll be great
> fun to watch Bruce paint these idiots into a very public corner once and
> for all, certainly.
Reluctant as I am to waste cycles on them, if we simply say that it is
snake oil it is difficult for the great unwashed to distinguish from
sour grapes. Painting them (and all other purveyors of snake oil) into a
corner is the way to go.
BTW, a "decryption only" version may be difficult to reverse engineer -
similar to the totally bogus "crack this dongle without the dongle"
challenges.
> In the spirit of Lucky's "Smartcard Developer's Association", we could call
> it the "Snakeoil Prevention Association", or something. :-). ("Society for
> the Prevention of Cruelty to Snakes?" "Cryptographic Herpetology
> Association?" Whatever...)
Hmmm ... snakes are a symbol of medicine - how about the "Cryptographic
Paramedics"?
:-)
Cheers,
Ben.
-- Ben Laurie |Phone: +44 (181) 735 0686| Apache Group member Freelance Consultant |Fax: +44 (181) 735 0689|http://www.apache.org/ and Technical Director|Email: ben@algroup.co.uk | A.L. Digital Ltd, |Apache-SSL author http://www.apache-ssl.org/ London, England. |"Apache: TDG" http://www.ora.com/catalog/apache/WE'RE RECRUITING! http://www.aldigital.co.uk/recruit/
The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:18:47 ADT