Neal Stephenson on Linux, Crypto and More 38
law
wrote in to tell us that Neal Stephenson has an
interview
over at Amazon. The author of
Cryptonomicon
and
Snow Crash
talks about assorted things from crypto to Linux. Lots
of interesting bits in there.
I saw him last night @ Third Place Books (Score:1)
He looked very unconfortable standing up in front of maybe 50 people there; when asked the hardest part about writing, he simply responded "This".
No truly interesting questions were asked, although it did come out that he uses a fountain pen and paper to write. It seems that people were more interested in the mechanics of being a novelist, and either less interested or less able to ask questions about the ideas behind the books.
Re:What I want to know... (Score:1)
You can't even be sued for diluting a trademark. Such as writing in a book "rollerblading." That's why that company politely asks authors (via ads in writing magazines) to say Rollerblade in-line skates. Instead of Rollerblades (or worse: rollerblades) I've seen public signs up saying "no rollerblading." Talk about trademark
dilution. But no one it required to follow the
lawyers' rules (unless you try to sell something
and call it a "Rollerblade")
Nope. There is no problem with writing "Bill sat down at his Macintosh, listening to the Spice
Girls, took a drink from a
Pepsi, and started Microsoft Office, which
promptly crashed with a cute little bomb icon
causing Bill to spit Pepsi all over his Dockers."
(other than bad taste)
Another Interview: newsweek (Score:2)
Re:Hero Worship (Score:1)
Printed source code can be exported legally, so he's wrong about that (unless he was referring to an electronic representation of his book).
In fact, this is how PGP was legally exported: you can buy the book with its source code, export it, and scan it in overseas.
Re:Hero Worship (Score:1)
I recommend "Zodiac" for a good read. Not quite SF (it's described as an eco-thriller) but a damn good read.
What I want to know... (Score:1)
I'm on page 350 out of ~900 and lovin' it, tho... Damn good book.
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
Re:USA Today -Export Restriction (Score:1)
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
Having evangelized the Mac for years, I can offer you this point which I always try to remember, and has served me well. Don't bother discussing the relative merits of two technologies in the context of technology. Rather, adopt the view of an ordinary person who becomes aware of bad stuff. Discuss it as seen through their eyes (e.g. Open Source is good because you get to inspect the goods; who would spend big bucks on a product that you aren't allowed to inspect? What sort of service do you get from other monopolies? Cable? Local phone? Pretty lousy.)
Just talk to people as one of the people. Even if it's just one person at a time, it's a start.
Re:USA Today (Score:2)
(next they'll come for the poker players...)
Re:Don't forget Necronomicon (Score:1)
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
The Outlook Express encryption appears to be standard SMIME, so I doubt there's special backdoors.
If you owned a company, and you were deploying a certificate infrastructure, wouldn't you set it up so that you had a back door to the data that you own? The user has a "certain feel of safety" against other users and other companies, but any user who wants his/her corporate e-mail to be totally private is just plain ignorant of the law and of technology.
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Re:The name is awfully similar (Score:2)
Don't forget Necronomicon (Score:2)
Re:USA Today -Export Restriction (Score:1)
Well at least I can get the American edition of the book here now -- I've placed an order for it and look forward to reading it.
Re:USA Today -Export Restriction (Score:2)
I had a pre-order for Cryptonomicon here from Amazon.co.uk, then a few weeks ago I got an e-mail saying it is not going to be published in the UK.
I haven't yet asked the publishers what their reason for cancelling publication in the UK was, but could it be because of this algorithm ???
Or am I too suspicious of US export laws?
Why I don't use PGP (Score:1)
Now I don't know if the above part about absolutely having to have a 15 character random password is correct, and frankly I sort of doubt it is. Can someone explain the _reason_ that such a password is required, as opposed to just asserting that anyone who doesn't use it is basically not using encryption at all?
Re:Hero Worship (Score:1)
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
A major problem with this is export laws. Why would a company bother to spend time making a feature that they'd have to take out of the international version? And I'm sure it's a SHITLOAD of red tape with the U.S. Goverment to set up a situation like Netscape has to 'verify' the 128 bit version only goes to U.S. citizens.
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
Hero Worship (Score:2)
I was shocked to read in Newsweek that he writes out his book with a writing utensil and then transfers them to his computer (which runs Linux). How retro! I can't read my handwriting if it's more than 2 days old, so I could never do that.
I also loved the part where it explains that because the book contains the source code to the solitaire cryptography algorithm, the book can't be exported (though can't low levels be exported?)
Re:NS at UW today (May 5) (Score:1)
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
BTW do YOU think that many people would think twice about your points? Closed source - what does this mean to a large percentage? A large percentage also still thinks that Microsoft makes greeeat software and would use such a system...
Re:... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:1)
... not enough paranoia to encrypt email (Score:2)
Most people seem to think their private communication is not important enough to protect but I would not say that. I don't want other people the mail I write (except if they are the recipient, of course) and I want to make sure, that the person who sends Email to me is the one who stands at the FROM adress line.
Unfortunately, until Microsoft builts that as a "ever turned on" feature into Outlook Express, using Microsoft-Amazing-Good-Privacy (not compatible with anything yet known to man) EMail signing/encryption will not be widely used.
Anybody knows the password at Cryptonomicon site? (Score:1)
Kaa
The name is awfully similar (Score:1)
Re:USA Today -Export Restriction (Score:1)
USA Today (Score:1)
Re:USA Today -Export Restriction (Score:2)
"If it were an algorithm (or formula) for robust encryption, and if we were to confirm that, then, yes, it would be subject to export control," says William Reinsch, undersecretary of Commerce for export administration.
"We've ruled that if (such algorithms) are printed in a book, we have not controlled them, but if the same algorithm appears in electronic form, on diskette or the Internet, we do seek to control it," he says. "We've tried to maintain a policy balancing the needs of privacy and e-commerce with the needs of national security."
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Another attempt to sell books (Score:1)
I was looking for a good SF book to read anyway.
Re:NS at UW today (May 5) (Score:1)
The ticket info is here [washington.edu], though notice they spelled his name wrong.
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NS at UW today (May 5) (Score:1)
Neil Stephenson will be giving a reading from _Cryptonomicon_ today (May 5) at the University of Washington in Kane Hall at 7PM, according to the UW Bookstore's website (http://www.bookstore.washington.edu). Tickets are required.
btw, shame on the UW Bookstore for misspelling Neil's name.
Re:NS at UW today (May 5) (Score:2)
anybody want an egg? I've got some extra on my face, here. Sheesh!