Paper on Codes Is Sent Despite U.S. Objections

Tags: 1980s Export Controls

Authors: Markoff, John

Published: August 1989

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/09/us/paper-on-codes-is-sent-despite-us-objections.html

Abstract: On August 9, 1989, the New York Times published an article about a Xerox Corporation computer scientist who decided to distribute “a paper describing fast and inexpensive ways of keeping information private”, in contradiction with the National Security Agency’s (NSA) request that it not be distributed due to national security concerns. The computer scientist, John Gilmore, “decided to transmit the paper to make a point about what he considers the suppression of valuable information on the technology of writing and deciphering messages in code, or cryptography.” The NSA’s main concerns were that “advances in cryptography will make it harder to break coded transmissions sent by foreign intelligence agents in the United States to their government [and] it will have more trouble protecting its own codes.” Despite the NSA’s insistence that the paper not be published, Gilmore faced no criminal or civil penalties.