4 ms·

40bits was "export level" encryption, i.e. stuff you could safely export to foreign enemy countries. Because western secret services were certain they could dec

by corty 5y ago

40bits was "export level" encryption, i.e. stuff you could safely export to foreign enemy countries. Because western secret services were certain they could decrypt that if necessary. So this is malicious without a doubt.

cestith 5y ago
Indeed. The question is where the malice lies. If I make a product for US use and export use, am I malicious by telling export customers that I'll only support a weaker key by US law? Or it the malice in the US requiring that? Can we expect companies, especially international conglomerates, to give up on potential markets because to protest a law?
- corty 5y ago
  Far simpler: An entity (here: the US) is malicious towards its enemies, makes malicious laws and commits malicious deeds to harm them. All the others are just proxies for that maliciousness (provided they don't have their own separate agenda there).
- mananaysiempre 5y ago
  OK, try this one: If I make a product for global use and Russian use, am I malicious for telling Russian customers that I’ll cut out information on homosexuality by Russian law? Or is the malice in Russia requiring that? Can we expect companies, especially international conglomerates, to give up on potential markets in order to protest a law? (This is not a caricature, this is more or less what a couple of Russian acquaintances working on YouTube at Google tell me. One could also say the same, mutatis mutandis, for China or India or Saudi Arabia, but I know much less about what’s happening there. Also intentionally not the most outrageous example, only the one that hopefully hits closest to home for a Western audience.)
  - cestith 5y ago
    I see the similarities. However, there's a difference between selling a technical solution and publishing social information. There's also a vast difference between doing special work to appease one target country so you can sell there compared to choosing whether or not to lose the entire world outside your home country because you can offer some protection but not the best protection to foreign buyers. 40 bits was not nearly as easy to break in 1998 as it is now.

by corty 5y ago

cestith 5y ago

Indeed. The question is where the malice lies. If I make a product for US use and export use, am I malicious by telling export customers that I'll only support a weaker key by US law? Or it the malice in the US requiring that? Can we expect companies, especially international conglomerates, to give up on potential markets because to protest a law?

corty 5y ago
Far simpler: An entity (here: the US) is malicious towards its enemies, makes malicious laws and commits malicious deeds to harm them. All the others are just proxies for that maliciousness (provided they don't have their own separate agenda there).
mananaysiempre 5y ago
OK, try this one: If I make a product for global use and Russian use, am I malicious for telling Russian customers that I’ll cut out information on homosexuality by Russian law? Or is the malice in Russia requiring that? Can we expect companies, especially international conglomerates, to give up on potential markets in order to protest a law? (This is not a caricature, this is more or less what a couple of Russian acquaintances working on YouTube at Google tell me. One could also say the same, mutatis mutandis, for China or India or Saudi Arabia, but I know much less about what’s happening there. Also intentionally not the most outrageous example, only the one that hopefully hits closest to home for a Western audience.)
- cestith 5y ago
  I see the similarities. However, there's a difference between selling a technical solution and publishing social information. There's also a vast difference between doing special work to appease one target country so you can sell there compared to choosing whether or not to lose the entire world outside your home country because you can offer some protection but not the best protection to foreign buyers. 40 bits was not nearly as easy to break in 1998 as it is now.