* This message forwarded from private area of Rich Woods
  * Original message dated 22 Jul 96  14:31:57, from Rule Of Law Committee
 
 Apparently-to: rich.woods@245.genesplicer.org
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:31:57 -0600
From: lancehamilton@sisna.com (Rule of Law Committee)
RULE OF LAW COMMITTEE MAILING LIST
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From: rmplstlskn@flinet.com
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>TECHNOLOGY AND LIBERTY
>
>Zimmerman is one of America's foremost computer privacy experts.
>He's a brilliant, thoughtful man and -- in this writer's opinion --
>a sincere, practical patriot.
Phil is indeed a patriot of sorts. He may never associate with militia
members or gun groups but he has given much to liberty, life and property. I
wish there were more of his kind within academia.
>Probably for that reason -- and because of his unique talents --
>America's secret government really dislikes Phil Zimmerman and
>what he did.
That is an understatement. They ~FEAR~ it!
>He did something much more serious in the eyes of America's national
>security powers. He created an elegant little computer program called
>Phil's PGP (PGP stands for "Pretty Good Privacy"). Zimmerman's
>software will run on just about anyone's home computer. And it
>scrambles people's electronic mail messages so well that the shadowy
>National Security Agency (NSA) can't unscramble them. Phillip
>Zimmerman invented a computer program that guarantees people's
>computer mail will even be more private than their "paper" mail.
Not only "computer mail," but ANYTHING that is binary. This includes files,
programs, zip files and other computer formats. The possible uses for PGP is
only limited by your creativity.
There are also many quality "shell" programs available for PGP, especially
in Windows and DOS based systems. This allows even the novice user to fully
exploit the power within PGP. Moreover, no matter what Operating System (OS)
you use, there is a compiled version of PGP available for it.
My recommendations are PGP WinFront and Private Idaho for Windows and PGS,
Pretty Good Shell in DOS.
>The NSA spooks were extremely displeased with Phil's PGP software.
There are rumors every so often that PGP, and the RSA code it is based on,
has been cracked by agencies such as NSA or mathematicians, but almost every
cryptology expert agrees that it is highly unlikely when used with ~LARGE~
keys. The PGP military-grade key (1024k) is virtually unbreakable by all
those in the know.
Netscape, which uses RSA encryption, just had a ~SMALL~ key cracked by a
team in the UK. I think it was a 64k key but I'm not sure. Anyways, the
effort required to crack a small 64k key was astounding, let alone the
exponential increase when you use a 1024k key. For those who understand and
can grasp the improbability of a cracked 1024k key, you can see how
IMPOSSIBLE, using today's technology, it would be. To read all the details,
stop by the Netscape WWW site and look in the security section.
>They've spent millions creating things like "Clipper" telephone
>surveillance chips and ominous government "Smart Cards." But the
>spooks became downright apoplectic after what Phil Zimmerman did
>next.
I don't really understand why smart cards are mixed in with the Clipper
chip. They are two different technologies, but since this article came from
the Spotlight, the hype is not surprising.
BTW, the Clipper is only a chip that uses an NSA-developed encryption
algorithm with a "BACKDOOR" escrow key so that LE and other agencies could
crack the code if OK'ed by a court of law. Rightly, this chip failed since
there were flaws in the algorithm and people didn't trust the gov't to keep
the escrow key secure.
>Zimmerman started giving his PGP software away.
Once again, he's a good guy!
>He did it because he's worried that Americans are losing their
>last shreds of personal privacy, due to government surveillance of
>their computers and communications. He still gives it away to anyone
>who wants it, for free.
MIT is now chiefly responsible for distribution and all further upgrades.
Phil, along with many others overseas, work closely with MIT.
>That's when Customs agents started showing up on his doorstep with
>subpoenas.
He was charged with "EXPORTING MUNITIONS" since strong encryption is illegal
for export. Phil has fought the Fed's and Customs for years, spending lots
of money on legal fees, to see that privacy in electronic media is kept free
and individually protected. Just recently his case was dropped by Customs
and he is now free to pursue his other interests, such as PGP Phone. (PGP
Phone is an internet-based phone software that uses RSA encryption to keep
the binary data unreadable except for the person on the other end)
>There's much more to Zimmerman's story, and it is still unfolding.
PGP Phone is his latest product so far.
>But all that really matters is that he is an new kind of patriot --
>an electronic patriot.
Rmpl considers himself in that group as well... ;-)
>It won't be a shooting battle -- at least I sincerely hope it won't.
I hope so as well.
>There aren't enough bullets in the world to defeat the Information
>Revolution. Computer bytes will beat bullets, if it comes to that.
Control of the Internet is our next battle. We must keep it out of the hands
of sound-byte seeking politicians and power-hungry bureaucrats. It is bad
enough that major corporations are consuming massive amounts of the net, but
I trust a CAPITALIST over a politician any day!
>Silently and invisibly, the battle will rage in your wallet, in Smart
>Cards and other simple looking identification devices that connect to
>vast, secret government databases.
The existence of these databases are not too secret. Anyone who doesn't
think such databases exist please raise your hand. Rmpl strains his keen
eyesight for any hands and see's none.
>room or den, as super secret "Clipper" chips are built into your cable
>TV box.
Super secret? I think not. More Spotlight hype.
>A thousand other places where Big Brother has no right to record the
>details of your life and store them, permanently, as part of a
>personal dossier.
And the populace goes forth willingly using the magnetic strip cards and
giving their Social Security number out to any who ask for it. The
centralized storage of information is inevitable. All we can do is either
get out of the system or keep a vigilant eye on how this data is used. To
stop technology is pure folly!
>From: THE SPOTLIGHT -- Feb. 28, 1994 , page 6
20% pure informational gold, 80%.......well, you know. (Rmpl's opinion only)
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 -=> Rmplstlskn 
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 PGP 2.6.2 Key available
 from Rmpl's WWW site:        
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"I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe ... Our
destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter.
From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their
government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess
that I do apprehend some danger.   ...Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837
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Rule of Law Committee
Montana Freedom Point
Citizens for Constitutional Government
http://ultimate.org/law/rolc
ftp://ftp.sisna.com/bitterroot/users/rolc
lancehamilton@sisna.com
"Pro Libertate"
T. Sante Pauline, Ora pro Nobis. T.
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