Tales from the crypto
Noted cryptographer Phil Zimmerman has released another controversial software program called Zfone that provides encryption for VOIP (Voice over IP) phone calls. VOIP is telephony from a computer to another computer using the Internet. Mr. Zimmerman is best known for releasing the program "PGP" or "Pretty Good Privacy" in 1991, which quickly became the gold standard for encrypting email traffic and earning Mr. Zimmerman years of being hounded by the U.S. government because he provided easy to use encryption to anyone who wished to use it.
What's most significant about this, IMHO, is that it is likely to be the stalking horse for what I suspect might be the next serious privacy battle with the current post-9/11 regime in Washington--outlawing encryption.
After all, most of the schemes in which the U.S. Intelligence community eavesdrops on people, corporations and governments works best when they understand what's being said (Traffic Analysis is another story). If everyone starts using encryption for important phone calls, it will rip lots of bigger holes in the surveillance net.
I predict that there will be an organized executive branch attack against public sector use of encryption for phone calls. This might be the starting point.
Posted on May 25, 2006
