Re: reference

On Thu, Mar 19, 1998 at 11:00:02PM -0600, Mike Rosing wrote:
> Cryptography is a weapon.  With a wire wrap tool, you too can create
> weapons of mass destruction using nothing but untracable legal parts.  
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


	I'll bite, how ?   Crypto is not a destructive weapon - it may
blind the opponent, perhaps even sometimes at critical times when that
can induce him to behave dangerously - but I fail to see how a cipher in
and of itself is a weapon of destruction, let alone mass destruction.  I
see crypto as an entirely defensive weapon with no potential to destroy
anything (except perhaps data when the key gets lost or forgotten).

	Of course you may be refering to other things one can put
together with a wirewrap tool - which isn't really the tool one would
want to assemble HERF or HPM destructive weapons with in any case
since wirewrap wire can barely handle an amp or so max...
	

	

> 
> Patience, persistence, truth,
> Dr. mike
> 

-- 
	Dave Emery N1PRE,  die@die.com  DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass. 
PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2  5D 27 BD B0 24 88 C3 18

On Fri, 20 Mar 1998, Dave Emery wrote:

> 	I'll bite, how ?   Crypto is not a destructive weapon - it may
> blind the opponent, perhaps even sometimes at critical times when that
> can induce him to behave dangerously - but I fail to see how a cipher in
> and of itself is a weapon of destruction, let alone mass destruction.  I
> see crypto as an entirely defensive weapon with no potential to destroy
> anything (except perhaps data when the key gets lost or forgotten).

By government fiat, not by reality.  Crypto is *classified* as a weapon,
so you stick a processor in a box with a keypad and scramble inputs to
outputs and you have a device which is on the munitions list along with
tanks and jet fighters.  Pistols and rifles aren't weapons of mass
destruction so they aren't on the munitions list, but crypto is.  So, by
fiat, it is a "weapon of mass destruction".

it's Sarcasim dude, and points out how stupid the law can be.  I'll take a
battery operated wire wrap tool, but even a hand job and candle light will
do.

As for the high explosives, processors are good at timing.  You can build
a pretty cheap detonator with some fancy properties using a $10 processor
chip.  With a couple of transistors you'll get more than enough current
to do the job, the wires won't be connected that long :-)

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike