--- begin forwarded text
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 07:39:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ron Rivest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RSA invention
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Ron Rivest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Michael Purser --
I am surprised by your gratuitous speculation about the history of RSA
(copied below). Anyway, to answer the question you raised (you asked
for an answer from "someone WHO KNOWS", and I know): Adi Shamir, Len
Adleman, and I invented RSA without any information whatsoever from
any classified sources. The only information sources we used were the
Diffie-Hellman paper and other public documents and books. We did not
"overhear any informal talk" about other alleged developments
elsewhere. Indeed, at times we were rather discouraged about the
whole idea of public-key cryptography, and tried to prove it
impossible.
Speaking of ethics, let me turn the tables on you. What is happening
with the Cayley-Purser algorithm that has received so much publicity
because of Sarah Flannery's involvement? We have yet to see details.
The latest I've heard is that this algorithm will not be published
until much later this year, because you have now decided to review it
more closely before publication. Has a security bug been discovered
in this algorithm? Is the actual performance less than advertised? I
think it is time for you to come clean and show us what all the hype
is about... (And of course, you should reveal any and all sources that
were used in the development of this algorithm, including any and all
"informal talk" you may have overheard...)
Cheers,
Ron Rivest
------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: Michael Purser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Michael J. Markowitz'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: P1363: Biprime Cryptography to replace RSA?
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 10:04:56 +0100
Reply-To: Michael Purser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
- --------------------------------------------------------------
This is a stds-p1363 broadcast. See the IEEE P1363 web page
(http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1363/) for more information,
including how to subscribe/unsubscribe.
- --------------------------------------------------------------
As I understand it, the RSA algorithm was invented years previously by
Cocks in GCHQ in the UK and published in several internal documents. Given
the close collaboration between GCHQ and US Intelligence and MIT it is
incredible to me that Rivest et al. re-invented the scheme several years
later independently. They may not have copied it directly, but they
probably overheard enough informal talk to give them all the clues
necessary.
Then being good Americans (of the USA variety) they claimed it was their
own, patented it (!!!! yes patented an algorithm - I'm surprised they
didn't patent long division or the extraction of square roots) and set
about making money from it!
And now there's to be a trademark. I suggest a good trademark would be
SINVERGUENZA.
(If this reading of history is wrong I would much appreciate learning the
truth from someone WHO KNOWS. Myself? I first learned of public-key
cryptography from Donald Davies of the UK's National Physical Laboratory in
1977. No doubt he and others like him know what really happened - but they
are bound by the Official Secrets Acts......)
- ----------
From: Michael J. Markowitz
Sent: 07 April 1999 21:54
To: Russell Nelson
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: P1363: Biprime Cryptography to replace RSA?
- --------------------------------------------------------------
This is a stds-p1363 broadcast. See the IEEE P1363 web page
(http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1363/) for more information,
including how to subscribe/unsubscribe.
- --------------------------------------------------------------
At 08:23 PM 4/6/99 +0000, Russell Nelson wrote:
>If RSA wants people to not use their trademark, they should start
>promoting the generic name. RSA(tm) brand BiPrime Factoring.
To promote something by which others may profit sounds
like the antithesis of MONOPOLIZATION, no?
- -mjm
==========
Michael J. Markowitz, VP R&D Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Information Security Corporation Voice: 847-405-0500
1011 Lake Street, Suite 212 Fax: 847-405-0506
Oak Park, IL 60301 WWW: http://www.infoseccorp.com
------- End of forwarded message -------
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Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
