Of the 5 algorithms still standing, two are patented. These are MARS (by IBM) and RC6 (RSA Labs). The NIST rules state that the algorithm that is finally chosen as the AES must be free to implement and so these two companies have promised to free their algorithms if they should win. This leaves us in the strange position of hoping one of the "closed" submissions wins.
Actually, I had a talk with Jennifer Seberry and Josef Pieprzyk, two of the designers of the LOKI97 algorithm which didn't make it through the first round. They anticipated the outcome of the first round and expected either MARS or RC6 to win.
Americans, being Americans, will never actually choose a non-US algorithm as the AES (soon to be mis-named American Encryption Standard), but Rijndael may hang around for embedded devices, etc. where it is particularly efficient.
Besides which, maybe exporting strong crypto isn't that great of an idea in the first place. Anybody care to comment?
I am greatly in favour of the US Crypto Export Restrictions. I am studying cryptography (they like to call it cryptology) in Denmark and have written a java crypto library called logi.crypto which is available either GPL'd or with a commercial license.
I can only hope that the export restrictions will never be lifted, since they mean that I effectively don't need to compete with anyone in the US.
In fact, before this I worked for an Icelandic software company which was hired as a sub-sub-contractor by a US software company to design and implement the cryptographic portions of a large communications application. They could not hire a US company, which they would probably have done otherwise.
It is also completely silly to suggest that not exporting strong crypto products is going to help "protect the world from terrorists and criminals". I mean, go buy your cryptography stuff in Ireland. There is no reason to think it will be any less capable. Or, if you are a "well funded" organization, hire a few cryptographers of your own. They don't quite grow on trees, but they aren't that hard to find either. I'm sure our friend Shamir is training a few down in Israel.
Really, as people keep hammering on, the only people who are going to stop using cryptography because it is illegal, is the people who are relatively honest anyway. The whole thing does not make any sense, however you look at it.
Here is how this could be a completely honest venture by Mindcraft to show that they know what they are doing.
They did the first test badly. This gets them rapped in the press and they sit down and wonder if htey really did mess it up. They then do a second test, where Linux does indeed come out much better than in the first, although it may not have beaten NT.
They decide that to salvage their image they should have a crew of Linux Experts tune linux and rerun this second test that no-one has seen, hoping that they will not be able to do much better.
Possibly linux will come out on top in the third test and they can turn around and show the second test where they got similar results and everyone will know that they could in fact configure the linux systems, at least in the second test. If, on the other hand, NT comes out on top, their first test is validated and they are even happier.
Of course, this is so far-fetched that it isn't ever going to happen:-)
I agree with this. Of course, you have to be careful not to improve a posters "alignment" when his posts are moderated up to the score he could have started with anyway. This would allow posters to bring all their posts down to -1 and have them moderated up.
I also think it is about time to allow the system to settle down soon. If it keeps changing as rapidly as it has been doing for the last weeks, moderators will not generally understand it and their moderation behaviour will be different. This will again mean that any analyses done by e.g. Rob trying to improve the system will be misleading.
The best thing about LyX (and KLyX) is that when you use the various buttons and things to insert an object, it will show in the status bar how this could have been done with the keyboard. After using it for a few hours and taking note of the status bar you can do most things without touching the mouse. This slowly teaches you proper TeX without having to go through huge manuals first.
I would rather keep my mind on the proof Im trying to communicate than the program I am using to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
Of the 5 algorithms still standing, two are patented. These are MARS (by IBM) and RC6 (RSA Labs). The NIST rules state that the algorithm that is finally chosen as the AES must be free to implement and so these two companies have promised to free their algorithms if they should win. This leaves us in the strange position of hoping one of the "closed" submissions wins.
Actually, I had a talk with Jennifer Seberry and Josef Pieprzyk, two of the designers of the LOKI97 algorithm which didn't make it through the first round. They anticipated the outcome of the first round and expected either MARS or RC6 to win.
Americans, being Americans, will never actually choose a non-US algorithm as the AES (soon to be mis-named American Encryption Standard), but Rijndael may hang around for embedded devices, etc. where it is particularly efficient.
Just thought I'd share my few bits.
I am greatly in favour of the US Crypto Export Restrictions. I am studying cryptography (they like to call it cryptology) in Denmark and have written a java crypto library called logi.crypto which is available either GPL'd or with a commercial license.
I can only hope that the export restrictions will never be lifted, since they mean that I effectively don't need to compete with anyone in the US.
In fact, before this I worked for an Icelandic software company which was hired as a sub-sub-contractor by a US software company to design and implement the cryptographic portions of a large communications application. They could not hire a US company, which they would probably have done otherwise.
It is also completely silly to suggest that not exporting strong crypto products is going to help "protect the world from terrorists and criminals". I mean, go buy your cryptography stuff in Ireland. There is no reason to think it will be any less capable. Or, if you are a "well funded" organization, hire a few cryptographers of your own. They don't quite grow on trees, but they aren't that hard to find either. I'm sure our friend Shamir is training a few down in Israel.
Really, as people keep hammering on, the only people who are going to stop using cryptography because it is illegal, is the people who are relatively honest anyway. The whole thing does not make any sense, however you look at it.
They did the first test badly. This gets them rapped in the press and they sit down and wonder if htey really did mess it up. They then do a second test, where Linux does indeed come out much better than in the first, although it may not have beaten NT.
They decide that to salvage their image they should have a crew of Linux Experts tune linux and rerun this second test that no-one has seen, hoping that they will not be able to do much better.
Possibly linux will come out on top in the third test and they can turn around and show the second test where they got similar results and everyone will know that they could in fact configure the linux systems, at least in the second test. If, on the other hand, NT comes out on top, their first test is validated and they are even happier.
Of course, this is so far-fetched that it isn't ever going to happen :-)
Logi
I agree with this. Of course, you have to be careful not to improve a posters "alignment" when his posts are moderated up to the score he could have started with anyway. This would allow posters to bring all their posts down to -1 and have them moderated up.
I also think it is about time to allow the system to settle down soon. If it keeps changing as rapidly as it has been doing for the last weeks, moderators will not generally understand it and their moderation behaviour will be different. This will again mean that any analyses done by e.g. Rob trying to improve the system will be misleading.
The best thing about LyX (and KLyX) is that when you use the various buttons and things to insert an object, it will show in the status bar how this could have been done with the keyboard. After using it for a few hours and taking note of the status bar you can do most things without touching the mouse. This slowly teaches you proper TeX without having to go through huge manuals first.
I would rather keep my mind on the proof Im trying to communicate than the program I am using to do it.