Privacy Guru Locks Down VOIP
<<<... "There's no need to centrally manage public key infrastructure to make a phone call, in my view," he said.
He won't elaborate on how his system works but is preparing a protocol document that will describe it in detail, which he'll post on the internet when the program is ready.
The program is currently only a working prototype and still has non-security bugs that need to be worked out.
For example, sometimes the program fails to hang up after a call, forcing the user to exit the program to end the call. It's designed for a Mac, but will be adapted for PCs before Zimmermann makes it available for download. He's looking for investors to back a startup company that will support the product and oversee its distribution.
Zimmermann envisions it both as an add-on for manufacturers to put into VOIP phones and as a software client that users can install on their laptop to use when they don't have a VOIP phone with them. Both parties in a conversation will need to have the software on their phone or computer. If only one person has it, the call will still go through but it won't be encrypted.
It's been a while since Zimmermann came out with a new encryption product. He released PGP in 1991; it was another five years before he released PGPfone to encrypt data passing between modems. Who could blame him for laying low for a while after the Justice Department launched a three-year criminal investigation of him in 1993? Officials accused him of violating a ban on exporting cryptography when he made PGP available for download on the internet. The government finally dropped its investigation in 1996. more>>>