FC: Network Associates 'fesses up to PGP backdoor, or maybe not

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Network Associates owns PGP. A representative of Network Associates' 
French subsidiary recently 'fessed up to a backdoor for the French 
government while on TV. Network Associates USA says their tech-clueless rep 
was talking about the firm's obligation to provide the source code to the 
French -- an uninteresting requirement, since PGP's source is freely 
available. Thanks to Jean-Marc Manach for forwarding what appears to be 
confusion. --Declan]

**********

Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 15:06:46 +0100
From: jmm <jmm () free fr>
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v1.49) Personal
To: declan () well com
Subject: There's a backdoor in PGP, said the french NAI representative...
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'lo-o

                   a few months ago, you quoted a paper I wrote about
                   a french hacker sued by an antiterrorist judge.
http://www.transfert.net/fr/cyber_societe/article.cfm?idx_rub=87&idx_art=1685
                   the guy is still awaiting the trial, and there's
                   another story right now which could interest you &
                   your readers.

                   Last week, a official spokesman of Network
                   Associates France told a TV journalist that the
                   french government, plus, probably, the german and
                   the american ones, has the deciphering keys for
                   PGP...

                   Une "Pretty Good Plaisanterie" which doesn't seem
                   to make french cryptographers laugh.

                   Regards,
                   jmm

False alarm for PGP
par Jean-Marc  Manach
mis en ligne le 23 janvier 2001

The  French  government  allegedly planted a backdoor in PGP, the most
widespread   of  cryptographic  software...  This  so-called  "scoop",
revealed  during  a  "special paranoid night" on Canal Plus, a leading
french TV channel, was in fact pure disinformation.

http://www.transfert.net/fr/cyber_societe/article.cfm?idx_rub=87&idx_art=3751

+ the official answer from Sandra England President, PGP Security

This  memo  is  to clarify some confusion caused by statements made by
Frederic Braut during a televised broadcast on Canal-Plus in France on
January  15. Braut mistakenly stated that PGP Security products enable
some  governments  to  covertly  decrypt mail messages. These comments
were  incorrectly  construed  to  imply that there is a "back door" in
some PGP Security products.

http://www.pgp.com/international/france/other/clarification.asp

+ "What Has PGP® Become?"
French users of OpenPGP against the PGP® of NAI
http://www.geocities.com/openpgp/pgp2000-eng.html


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