Buying and selling root certificates

Thu Apr 29 15:44:11 UTC 2004

Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered:
> 
> 
> Yes, a *very* well funded and determined adversary can beat crypto (almost
> always by doing an end run around it).  However, raising the bar to that level
> will eliminate all the successful attacks by lesser adversaries, and can also
> contribute to the bankrupting of the well-funded - even the FBI can afford only
> a few Scarfo-scale cases a year...

This is now wildly OT, but to close:

a) CALEA, Carnivore etc. are ALL about cost-shifting. The Feebees
used to talk about breaking cases with "a dime & a dime" meaning
informants calls, and wiretaps. The current fights are about
victims^H^Htargets of interest furnishing those dimes themselves.

b) Scarfo is case that made little sense to many observers. Nicky
was scarcely Vincent Gigante or Gotti; from what I've read, he
ran a few girls and some policy [bookmaking] while Daddy is up
the river.

So why did the Feebees make such a BIG deal out of it? Donno;
usually they are that dedicated only when a) HQ is leaning on
them or B) they can be on TV....

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