Noncryptographic Security Issues - Codes: The Guide to Secrecy from Ancient to Modern Times - page 416

There are numerous Gnutella client applications, unlike the old Napster.
Some of them are Bearshare a closed-source, Windows-based platform; Gnu-
cleus , a Windows-based, open-source platform written in the C language;
Limewire , a GPL open-source code in Java, which is multiplatform (but there is
a MAC OSX platform based on Limewire, called Acquisitionx ); and Poisoned ,
an open-source, MAC OSX-based platform. The most common file-sharing ap-
plications in use today, which also employ the above clients, are BitTorrent and
Kazaalite ; see http://bittorrent.com/ and http://www.kazaalite.com/ .
The music industry is responding to the above concerns, especially the
MP3 developments, with an initiative called Secure Digital Music Initiative
(SDMI), which is, an as yet incomplete, standards forum established in 1998
(see www.sdmi.org ). The goal of SDMI is to provide online, convenient, legal
access to digital music, by creating new digital distribution systems, enabling
copyright protection for music artists, and promoting development of music-
related technologies. Part of the reason that SDMI's goal is, as yet, incomplete
is that their SDMI challenge, Open Letter to the Digital Community , announced
in September 6, 2000, had unexpected outcomes. They invited hackers and
cryptanalysts to break their proposed digital watermarking scheme for protect-
ing digital music. Their challenge was met in the worst possible way (for them).
A group broke the entire system. In other words, not only did they break the
proposed scheme, but showed that the basic idea was flawed in that any algo-
rithm based upon it could also be broken. The SDMI project has been inactive
since May 18, 2001. However, this hiatus did not invalidate their development of
a portable device specification. The idea behind this specification is that future
music content would include data that SDMI-compliant players would recog-
nize, and would refuse to play any file containing digital music without these
markings. In this fashion, copyrighted material would be protected. However,
it is not di H cult to see that implementing such a system is going to meet some
formidable barriers.
The last topic of this chapter is on controversy surrounding a single computer
chip that involved the White House, the NSA, DES, and numerous characters,
who attempted to build a wall of security that came crashing down.
The NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) 10.38 is also regarded as the Central
Security Service. It is essentially the U.S. cryptologic citadel, whose function is
to organize and direct whatever necessary to safeguard U.S. information systems
and to gather foreign intelligence. On November 4, 1952, President Harry S.
Truman signed a directive that established the NSA. We have witnessed several
cryptologists in the NSA Hall of Honor (see pages 85-88, and 91), as well as
images from their National CryptologicMuseum (see page 92-96, and 106), for
instance.
10.38 The acronym is often used for No Such Agency and Never Say Anything in reference to
its cloak of secrecy shrouding the organization.