Why "carnivore" type systems can't be (entirely) open source

[Ken Brown]

Brian Gladman wrote:

> Which is precisely how we should treat STO in respect of systems design.

That is part of the point I was trying to make.  If the operation of the
system *relies* on keeping the method used secret, then it is probably a
bad choice of method. It is different from a situation where revealing
the method might give an attacker some useful clues (which might be the
case in some cryptography algorithms). Richard suggested that knowledge
of the method would blow the gaffe entirely - once the bad guys know
which species of weasel they are dealing with they can trivially write
code to circumvent it. 

In the case under discussion our Carnivore can be made to work (& I
imagine it probably is) by using a choice of methods (Weasels, stoats,
mink - we can have a whole tales-from-the-riverbank's worth of cuddly
little carnivores). If there is no strong method that can be employed
then that is the only way to implement it. Assuming that the method can
be kept secret is just silly.

Ken