Talk:Export of cryptography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of WikiProject Cryptography, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to cryptography in the Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.

It is intended that this article be included in WikiReader Cryptography, a WikiReader on the topic of cryptography. Help and comments for improving this article would be especially welcome. A tool for coordinating the editing and review of these articles is the daily article box.

To-do list for Export of cryptography:	edit · history · watch · refresh
None listed.

[edit] some further reading

An illustration of the foolishness (and general dumbth) in the execution of these policies is given by Peter Guttman in his My career as a Kiwi Arms Courier essay on his web site. It has the unusual virtue, in material on crypto subjects, of being quite funny as well. If there's no objection, and someone doesn't beat me to it, I'll add it as further reading with a comment. ww 14:01, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC) Matt beat me to it. ww 17:32, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Long sentence

Could the author of the sentence "Since the demonstration of the benefits of wireless in WWI, the publication by Admiral Jackie Fisher and Winston Churchill in the 20's of the fact of that the English read German Naval codes in WWI, the revelation on two occasions (also in the 20s) by UK ministers of information that could only have come from reading encrypted Soviet messages, and the publication of Herbert Yardley's book, The American Black Chamber, in 1931 (revealing major breaks of diplomatic cryptography -- especially in connection with the Washington Naval Conference), nations had even more motivation than before to attempt to protect the communications confidentiality" (or any Wikipedian who understands it) possibly simplify the language? I can't make heads or tails of it, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. A Pattern O 06:22, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

LOL, yes. Moreover, as those sections say almost nothing about the export of cryptography during those periods, I've simply removed them. — Matt Crypto 18:30, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] mistake?

"SSL-encrypted messages used the RC4 cipher, and used 128-bit keys. U.S. government export regulations would not permit crypto systems using 128-bit keys to be exported. The longest key size allowed for export without individual license proceedings was 40 bits, so Netscape developed two versions of its web browser. The "U.S." edition had the full 128-bit strength. The "International Edition" had its effective key length reduced to 40-bits by revealing 88 bits of the key in the SSL protocol."

should this be the other way - the US edition should have the 40-bits and the international have 128. Jon513 12:22, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

No, the article is correct as written. Netscape was a U.S. company. There was (and is) no restriction on use of strong cryptography within the U.S., only on its export. So the export version had to be weakened.--agr 13:17, 25 July 2006 (UTC)