Craig Brozefsky on Mon, 11 Oct 1999 20:05:32 +0200 (CEST)


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Re: <nettime> 'Self-destruct' e-mail offers virtual privacy


Roberto Verzola <rverzola@phil.gn.apc.org> writes:

> It would be nice if the self-destruct key is handled like the public keys
> of PGP, where any number of certification sites can be set up, so that a
> group of us, for instance, do not need to use Disappearing Inc.  but can
> set up our own self-destruct keys site. This would presumably require that
> the algorithms for this approach be open source... 

I attended a presentation by Meklin Mavet (sp?) who was one of the
founders at the recent Bay Area Cypherpunks meeting.  He said their
intention is to free all the source code the the clients (but it will take
the time to negotiate with the VCs who gave them dough), and that the
protocols will all be published.  Knowing some of the guys involved in the
project, they believe in Free Software, but any startup has to get money
to survive and that means dealing with VCs.  VCs are not as generous with
code as programmers are. 

But this alone would not allow you to use a public key protocol (currently
it uses any one of several symmetric ciphers). 

-- 
Craig Brozefsky                         <craig@red-bean.com>
Free Scheme/Lisp Software     http://www.red-bean.com/~craig
"riot shields. voodoo economics. its just business. cattle 
 prods and the IMF." - Radiohead, OK Computer, Electioneering

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