Yeah, I went on holidays to the US and got the 128 bit plugin for what was probably Netscape (the precursor to Firefox) and it was very clear during the download process that it wasn’t to be taken outside the US. It was considered a weapon if memory serves me.
Anyway not long after the rest of the world caught up and it looked silly in hindsight so here we are.
Edit: just to add some context on the “weapon” thing… The other standard was either 56 or 64 bit and it was secure enough at the time given compute capabilities but it was also clear that it would be crackable in time whereas 128 bit has a very long shelf life even with modern capabilities, as long as the algorithm was good (and it was / is)
Reminds me of the US trying to prevent the rest of the world getting 128 bit encryption back in the 90s.
I was busy sucking on my thumb then, for real they did that?
Yeah, I went on holidays to the US and got the 128 bit plugin for what was probably Netscape (the precursor to Firefox) and it was very clear during the download process that it wasn’t to be taken outside the US. It was considered a weapon if memory serves me.
Anyway not long after the rest of the world caught up and it looked silly in hindsight so here we are.
Edit: just to add some context on the “weapon” thing… The other standard was either 56 or 64 bit and it was secure enough at the time given compute capabilities but it was also clear that it would be crackable in time whereas 128 bit has a very long shelf life even with modern capabilities, as long as the algorithm was good (and it was / is)
Oh sweet summer child
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption
Even the first cell networks were sabotaged to make eavesdropping a simple thing.
Death to america.