[FYI] EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon - und neue Kryptodebatte V 3.0 in Sicht
[Quntenkryptographie ist noch nicht mal richtig praxistauglich, da
kommt schon gleich die naechste Key-Escrow-Debatte um die Ecke ...]
<http://www.thestandard.com/article.php?story=20040517152322624>
EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon
Monday, May 17 2004 @ 03:11 PM GMT
By Philip Willan, IDG News Service
The European Union is to invest ?11 million (US $13 million) over the
next four years to develop a secure communication system based on
quantum cryptography, using physical laws governing the universe on
the smallest scale to create and distribute unbreakable encryption
keys, project coordinators said Monday.
If successful, the project will produce the cryptographer's holy
grail -- absolutely unbreakable code -- and thwart the eavesdropping
efforts of espionage systems such as Echelon, which intercepts
electronic messages on behalf of the intelligence services of the
U.S., Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
"The aim is to produce a communication system that cannot be
intercepted by anyone, and that includes Echelon," said Sergio Cova,
a professor from the electronics department of Milan Polytechnic and
one of the project's coordinators. "We are talking about a system
that requires significant technological innovations. We have to prove
that it is workable, which is not the case at the moment." Major
improvements in geographic range and speed of data transmission will
be required before the system becomes a commercial reality, Cova
said.
"The report of the European Parliament on Echelon recommends using
quantum cryptography as a solution to electronic eavesdropping. This
is an effort to cope with Echelon," said Christian Monyk, the
director of quantum technologies at the Austrian company ARC
Seibersdorf Research GmbH and overall coordinator of the project.
Economic espionage has caused serious harm to European companies in
the past, Monyk said. "With this project we will be making an
essential contribution to the economic independence of Europe."
[...]
Monyk believes there will be a global market of several million users
once a workable solution has been developed. A political decision
will have to be taken as to who those users will be in order to
prevent terrorists and criminals from taking advantage of the
completely secure communication network, he said.
"In my view it should not be limited to senior government officials
and the military, but made available to all users who need really
secure communications," Monyk said. Banks, insurance companies and
law firms could be potential clients, Monyk said, and a decision will
have to be made as to whether and how a key could be made available
to law enforcement authorities under exceptional circumstances. "It
won't be up to us to decide who uses our results," said Milan
Polytechnic's Cova. ::
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