New release of SFS available

I have just uploaded version 1.19 of SFS to the grumbo.uwasa.fi FTP site as:

 551004 Apr 01 01:19 grumbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/crypt/sfs119.zip

This release contains a number of major improvements over previous versions.
The most important is that it follows recommendations on the use of encryption
software to be released later today in a joint announcement by the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe and the US State Department.  To this end the
new version of SFS will abandon the use of MDC/SHS in favour of a classified
algorithm which the both NSA and GCHQ are confident will protect non-
confidential data.  Although the exact algorithm details cannot be published
due to its classified nature, it can be revealed that it uses prime number
cycle wheels, a system still employed today at the highest levels.

This algorithm improves on MDC/SHS by using a massive 2048-bit key, which would
take billions of years to exhaust via a brute-force search.  However in order
to satisfy the requirements of various organizations such as the Chinese
government (who need to ensure that no nasty outside influences pollute the
minds of their citizens) and to allow the originators of the 83.5% of all
Usenet traffic which contains porn to be prosecuted (a recent example being the
widely publicised move by the Office of the Bavarian Illuminati to force
Compuserve to drop all sex-related newsgroups), SFS 1.19 will store 2032 bits
of the key in the clear along with the encrypted data.

The head of the FBI Louis Freeh has been quoted as saying that "this will
provide adequate protection against your little sister or your mother, while
allowing law enforcement agencies to investigate people using encryption for
illegal purposes".  The head of the French DSSI agrees: "There have been too
many cases of industrial espionage by foreign government intelligence agencies.
For example in 1993 one such agency acquired over $1 billion worth of business
for their own countries' companies in this manner.  SFS 1.19 will protect
against this problem, while allowing us to maintain control over French
national security interests".

The German government has tentatively approved SFS 1.19 for public use provided
that it undergo a few small changes to comply with an updated form of the the
Fernmeldeanlagen Ueberwachungs-Verordung (FUeV), which will require that all
German users of SFS be connected to a central system to which copies of all
keys used, times of encryption and decryption, identities of users, and copies
of all encrypted data, be automatically forwarded.  The Minister of the
Interior Manfred Kanther stated that "this should fulfil the requirements of
the German government for monitoring possible criminal use, although I might
change my mind about this in a minute or two".

Peter.

pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz
> 
> I have just uploaded version 1.19 of SFS to the grumbo.uwasa.fi FTP site as:

> take billions of years to exhaust via a brute-force search.  However in order
> to satisfy the requirements of various organizations such as the Chinese
> government (who need to ensure that no nasty outside influences pollute the
> minds of their citizens) and to allow the originators of the 83.5% of all
> Usenet traffic which contains porn to be prosecuted (a recent example being the
> widely publicised move by the Office of the Bavarian Illuminati to force
> Compuserve to drop all sex-related newsgroups), SFS 1.19 will store 2032 bits
> of the key in the clear along with the encrypted data.
> 
> The head of the FBI Louis Freeh has been quoted as saying that "this will
> provide adequate protection against your little sister or your mother, while
> allowing law enforcement agencies to investigate people using encryption for
> illegal purposes".  The head of the French DSSI agrees: "There have been too
> many cases of industrial espionage by foreign government intelligence agencies.

Remind me not to use this junk. Ever. 

In the USA we still have a right to privacy. I don't give a damn about
the "needs of law enforcement" simply becasue the perception of their
needs has grown beyond the reality of what they actualy "need". If left
up to many of the worlds LEO's, there would be taps on all phones and
cameras on every corner. Their jobs would be easy, and that's what
they want.

The desires of law enforcment organizations are fundementaly at odds
with a free populace and the actualization of liberty in the practice
of law. Software like what has been described above serves only as
an example of that in my mind.

Tim Scanlon

Well I guess it wouldn't be much of a `fool' if it didn't fool *anyone.*

But TIm, Tim.... your mother?  Your sister?  It wasn't halfway subtle.

(If it had been the `Canadian library barcode' spoof, we could understand.
 That one was so credible I'm afraid it may give the bad guys ideas.)

Charles Bell

>Charles Bell
> 
> 
> Well I guess it wouldn't be much of a `fool' if it didn't fool *anyone.*
> 
> But TIm, Tim.... your mother?  Your sister?  It wasn't halfway subtle.
> 
> (If it had been the `Canadian library barcode' spoof, we could understand.
>  That one was so credible I'm afraid it may give the bad guys ideas.)
> 

	heh, Hook, line, AND sinker.

This is what happens when your link is down for 4 days and you
try to get through c'punks back-mail at a fast pace, thinking
that the stuff you're looking at is 3-4 days old.

On the other hand, everyone in my family uses email, and my sister
(the english major in the bunch) has asked about stuff like using pgp
to send intimate mail to her boyfriend. And one of my brothers,
(the cattle farmer) has asked 'if there's an easy way that I can mail
some financial stuff without worrying about people reading it. Like
useing that codes stuff you talk about'.

They both just like privacy. Even my mom has said things like "go watch 
TV or something while I'm doing my mail". 

So the mother & sister part didn't really raise any flags. I've gotten
over the culture shock of everyone (and their mother) wanting to be
on the 'net awhile back. Course looking back at it I'm going "waitaminute"

In any case I'm sitting here laughing about it. Being taken in now and
then by a good joke is an ok thing. It's going to force me to plot
something devious for next April fools day. ;)


Tim