Whitfield Diffie
and
Susan Landau
have updated their book on crypto and wiretap policy,
"Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption."
The revised book details the arguments between the U.S. government
and industry and academic researchers over encryption and the right to
use strong encryption in the public domain - a battle that was won in
2000, when the U.S. government agreed to the export of strong crypto
in most high-tech products.
But there remain other issues, including the U.S. government's effort
to apply the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
to VoIP, a "solution" for wiretapping that potentially creates major
security holes.
Diffie and Landau's updated and expanded version of Privacy on the
Line covers these and related issues (including the NSA warrantless
wiretapping); Ron Rivest,
the co-inventor of the RSA algorithm,
says, "This revised edition of Diffie and Landau's
classic work brings their treatment fully up to date. Essential for
anyone interested in the technology, history, and politics of
communications privacy."
Whitfield Diffie is Chief Security Officer of Sun, and co-inventor of
public-key crypto, which amongst other achievements is what enables
ecommerce.
Susan Landau is a Sun Distinguished Engineer focusing on the
intersection of security, crypto, and public policy, and currently
working on issues of digital-rights management and surveillance
issues.
Now all I need to do is get Susan blogging. :-)
