AES

[Brian Gladman]

From: Ross Anderson <Ross.Anderson@cl.cam.ac.uk>
To: <ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk>; <eucrypto@fitug.de>
Sent: 10 August 1999 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: AES


[snip]
> I recall that in about 1994, a chap at a northern university was about
> to publish an attack on the GSM algorithm A5. The DTI phoned up his
> Vice Chancellor and said `you'd better keep this guy under control,
> you get 4 million a year in research funding from us'. Although
> punishing lecturer X by withdrawing his grant in retaliation for the
> actions of lecturer Y would have been completely illegal, the paper
> was pulled. (To no avail - the attack was rediscovered by Jovan Golic
> and published at Eurocrypt 97.)
>
> So far, similar attempts to interfere with our research at Cambridge
> have met with a very robust response. However I am concerned at the
> possible reaction of a future non-technological Vice Chancellor, on
> getting a phone call telling him that one of his teaching officers was
> possibly committing an offence by exporting weapons without a licence.

Is there anyone at Universities that has any documentary evidence of
attempts by the UK government to supress or control research or to supress
or control the publication of research in the cryptography field?

If so it would be helpful to see this evidence.

> > By the way it is NOT Uk who are pushing the intangible stuff throught
> > the EU machinery; in fact we are still arguing for exemptions (such as
> > telehone conversations).  The previous Presidency were the keen ones.
>
> That's not the impression I got from talking to your colleagues in
> export control, or the people in the Foreign Office who're pushing for
> voluntary vetting, or the MoD people who rabbit on about WMD.

Nor the one I get either from talking to others in Europe who would know.

> I therefore request that you release, under the Open Government
> provisions, all DTI documents relating to introducing controls on
> intangible exports including all communications with, and minutes of
> meetings with, officials of other departments, EU officials and US
> officials.

Seconded!

        Brian