Must-read essay on censorship of cryptography
Censorship in action: why I don't publish my HDCP results
Niels Ferguson
August 15, 2001
Accompanying FAQ; interesting discussion with Seybold editor (thanks NTK)
Ferguson is an absolutely blinding cryptographer and cryptanalyst who I had the good fortune to meet at FSE 2000, and sing Tom Lehrer songs with in Central Park, which I believe is still legal in the USA. There is no doubt that if he says he's done it, then he's done it. This is an absolutely vital issue for my whole line of work - the research I want to do for a living could be made illegal.
Niels Ferguson
August 15, 2001
Summaryhttp://www.macfergus.com/niels/dmca/cia.html
I have written a paper detailing security weaknesses in the HDCP content protection system. I have decided to censor myself and not publish this paper for fear of prosecution and/or liability under the US DMCA law.
Introduction
My name is Niels Ferguson. I'm a professional cryptographer. My job is to design, analyse, and attack cryptographic security systems, a bit like a digital locksmith. I work to make computer systems and the Internet more secure. You would think that people would be in favour of that, right?
Accompanying FAQ; interesting discussion with Seybold editor (thanks NTK)
Ferguson is an absolutely blinding cryptographer and cryptanalyst who I had the good fortune to meet at FSE 2000, and sing Tom Lehrer songs with in Central Park, which I believe is still legal in the USA. There is no doubt that if he says he's done it, then he's done it. This is an absolutely vital issue for my whole line of work - the research I want to do for a living could be made illegal.