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Privacy on the Line The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption by Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau
"This engagingly written account provides the necessary historical context and technical know-how to understand the 1990s battle over computer encryption, in which Diffie is probably the nation's best-informed expert."Telecommunication has never been perfectly secure, as a Cold War culture of wiretaps and international spying taught us. Yet many of us still take our privacy for granted, even as we become more reliant than ever on telephones, computer networks, and electronic transactions of all kinds. So many of our relationships now use telecommunication as the primary mode of communication that the security of these transactions has become a source of wide public concern and debate. Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau argue that if we are to retain the privacy that characterized face-to-face relationships in the past, we must build the means of protecting that privacy into our communication systems. This has not proved simple, however. The development of such protection has been delayed--and may be prevented--by powerful elements of society that intercept communications in the name of protecting public safety. Intelligence and law-enforcement agencies see the availability of strong cryptography as a threat to their functions. The U.S. government has used export control to limit the availability of cryptography within the United States, and bills introduced in Congress in 1997 would place legal restrictions on essential elements of any secure communications system. These policies attempt to limit encryption to forms that provide a "back door" for government wiretapping. Diffie and Landau strip away the hype surrounding the policy debate to examine the national security, law enforcement, commercial, and civil liberties issues. They discuss the social function of privacy, how it underlies a democratic society, and what happens when it is lost. They also explore the workings of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, how they intercept communications, and how they use what they intercept.
Reader CommentsI reccommend this book. It discusses issues of policy, both in the USA and around the world. It discusses both conventional (symmetric-key) encryption, and Public Key Cryptology, without getting overly technical. It discusses Key Escrow, and the U.S. Governments Secure Telephone Unit III (STU-III) program. If it is not in your local city or town library, I suggest you ask them to get it. This is a must read. /signed/ Joseph Tag,Jr.contributed by Joseph G. Tag,Jr. (jtag@turbo.kean.edu) on October 02, 1999 This book is, in my opinion, the best complete overview on this subject. It brings together the entire debate and presents both sides of the pro/anti-crypto debate. This book has pride of place on my bookshelf, next to Applied Cryptography, Puzzle Palace & Codebreakers.contributed by Sam Simpson (ssimpson@mia.co.uk) on September 24, 1998 On Dr. Diffie's recommendation, I have found excerpts of this book quite intriguing and informative, in aiding me in the compilation of a research paper at the London School of Economics and Political Science concerning cryptography and its use as an elixir for securing the commercial Internet, as well as our privacy rights. I have learned to be well aware of the increased dangers that can potentially be incurred due to rampant insecurity, yet I firmly believe that this hindrance is far outweighed by the violation of our innate rights to privately communicate, for benefits and social reliability incurred by efficiently transacting through reliable, secure channels, can be fully exploited when properly safeguarded with minimal risk. I have been able to better develop a picture of the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for commerce, education, and political discourse.contributed by Daniel M. Sheth (dms5@stern.nyu.edu) on February 04, 1998 Other Books or related products by
Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau
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