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Doomed to Repeat History? Lessons From the Crypto Wars of the 1990s.

posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 24 2015, @03:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the it-was-always-the-same-as-now dept.

AnonTechie writes:

In the past year, a conflict has erupted between technology companies, privacy advocates, and members of the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities over the right to use and distribute products that contain strong encryption technology.

This debate between government actors seeking ways to preserve access to encrypted communications and a coalition of pro-encryption groups is reminiscent of an old battle that played out in the 1990s: a period that has come to be known as the "Crypto Wars."

This paper tells the story of that debate and the lessons that are relevant to today. It is a story not only about policy responses to new technology, but also a sustained, coordinated effort among industry groups, privacy advocates, and technology experts from across the political spectrum to push back against government policies that threatened online innovation and fundamental human rights.

http://www.newamerica.org/oti/doomed-to-repeat-history-lessons-from-the-crypto-wars-of-the-1990s/

[Paper - PDF]: https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/3407-doomed-to-repeat-history-lessons-from-the-crypto-wars-of-the-1990s/OTI_Crypto_Wars_History.abe6caa19cbc40de842e01c28a028418.pdf

[Also Covered By]: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/06/history_of_the_.html

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by stormwyrm on Wednesday June 24 2015, @05:58AM

    by stormwyrm (717) on Wednesday June 24 2015, @05:58AM (#200246) Journal
    Cryptography already existed long before the Constitution. Ironically, TFA actually says the following:

    Contrary to what many people now believe, encryption technology is not a product of the digital age, nor something that the Founding Fathers could not have fathomed when they wrote the United States Constitution. In fact, in the early 1790s, while serving as George Washington’s Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson himself relied upon encryption to securely encode and decode messages in the letters that he sent overseas, using a wooden device that he invented known as a wheel cipher. Encryption methods have actually been used for centuries by diplomats, intelligence officers, and soldiers — from the ancient Romans to the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams — to send sensitive messages without fear that the contents could be read if they were intercepted.

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  • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:40AM

    by davester666 (155) on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:40AM (#200259)

    Ah, yes. It also don't cover things that are not explicitly mentioned in the text of the document.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:49AM (#200263)
      Of course not: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -- Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution

      • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:16AM

        by davester666 (155) on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:16AM (#200272)

        I think the bit flipped.

        Now it seems to be 'all rights not explicitly given to people are implicitly retained by the gov't'.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:36AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:36AM (#200274)
          That I can't disagree with. They've been using the Constitution as toilet paper for a long time, but since Bush II they've been using it to really wipe their asses. Obama hasn't changed this trend one iota.