MARX & MATH
A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER AND CEO -
I am frequently amazed that humanity has managed to survive so long here on planet Earth. I base my amazement on our leadership and their inherent skill of leading us into extinction.
For example, the anti-encryption crowd of politicals is a long list of wing nuts that have a poor understanding of the technology they seem to despise. These politicals parade their ignorance almost on que in a vain effort to push a technophobic agenda right after each terrorist incident that slams the headlines.
For example, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Home(r)land Security Committee is one fellow that leads the outspoken delegation of clueless cucumbers. McCaul recently cited evidence that terrorists use encryption then immediately refused to reveal that evidence, stating it was classified. I suppose that means that if he told us he would have to kill us to keep it a secret. McCaul sounded the usual a-wooga alarm immediately after the Brussels attack, saying he was certain the terrorists used encryption.
“I think after the events of today, it’s important that Congress does something and that Congress acts,” he said.
Of course, facts should not get in the way of legislation. We certainly must act even if it’s the wrong thing to do. At least the people will see we are concerned and doing something no matter how badly it screws things up.
The Belgian authorities have not found any encrypted communications so McCaul’s assertions are certainty based on faith. True to form, Rep. McFaul’s cryptographic expertise has previously led him to state that Twitter hashtags and Facebook postings are examples of terrorists communicating in "dark spaces".
While I'm not much of a fan of Facebook - I somehow doubt that Zuckerberg’s billion dollar advertising money machine can be considered a dark space.
Then there is Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top House (lack of) Intelligence Committee Democrat, who said “We do not know yet what role, if any, encrypted communications played in these attacks. But we can be sure that terrorists will continue to use what they perceive to be the most secure means to plot their attacks.”
Facts, however, show a somewhat different culprit. We do know that an unusually large pizza order led to the arrest of a top Paris attacker related to the Brussels terrorist group. It appears that the large order tipped off authorities that several possible suspects were holed up in a Brussels apartment. Thus, the pizza led police to the Paris attacker and to his arrest.
We do not know what role, if any, pine-apple or other toppings played in the Brussels attacks but we can be sure that the terrorists will continue to eat what they perceive to be the most secure food while plotting their evil doings.
Perhaps, Rep. Schiff and his gang of bad intelligence members need to find the closest Papa Johns and continue their anti-encryption research over a double cheese with pepperoni.
Ironically, the Belgians know that encryption was an important player in the Brussels attacks... but not in terrorist hands. They were forced to use the online secure WhatsApp message service because their multi-million euro fancy secure police radio network failed. It seems that the Belgian Astrid emergency radio system was overwhelmed during the terrible events and crapped out. The failure led the police, fire, rescue and emergency services to switch to the WhatsApp online message service.
Thus, proving that encryption does indeed save lives and is used by the good guys.
Of course, WhatsApp is also currently being pursued by the FBI in court to give up its encryption. Perhaps, seeing as how the Belgians used it as a backup for their emergency services, it might be in order for the boys at J. Edgar One to reconsider their legal efforts to deep six the message service.
The Brussels attackers seemed to be more concerned with bomb making and fully auto-matic AK-47s than secure cell phones. They figured out that having a cell phone or computer is a red flag for western intelligence services to find and track them. Of course, assuming that a group of terrorists who live together in the same neighborhood would use text messaging to stay in touch is in line with a high school mentality. It would seem the Brussels attackers used face to face and not Facebook. Go figure.
The whole problem here is neither encryption nor even terrorism. It lies with our leadership. Clearly they would rather attack their own citizens with silly laws than address the problem of guys attacking us with bombs and guns. Their efforts can be seen as playing defense in a giant game of cat and mouse here in the homelands while the real problem lies in an ever growing rats nest inside what was Syria.
Worse still, our leadership is too thick to understand that 2 plus 2 equals 4. That's right Dick and Jane in the Senate... encryption is not magic... it's math.
Math is not political nor does math recognize laws passed by mankind to ban, alter or destroy it. You can pass as many laws as you like but the math to perform the encryption remains. ISIS can add, subtract, divide and as Obama knows... multiply. They can do math. They can count to 30 - the number of bullets in a normal AK-47 magazine. I know that if you can build a bomb out of off-the-self commercial products then you can also build your own secure communications. All it takes is a deck of cards, a pencil, some paper and math.
The source code to secure communications is already spread out all over the internet and ISIS knows it. One of the problems with freedom of speech is the ability to publish computer source code. I guess it’s just one of those bad side effects of living in a democratic free state.
So, in order to exercise my freedom, I have published a new program along with its source code on our website, free for anyone to download. It uses what is called lateral modullar based arithmetic to encode short messages with a password. In keeping with the too technical terminology I have named it simply "L Mo".
L Mo uses the same sort of math that happens when you pull out a pack of cards to play solitaire or poker. You can use L Mo to code a message - copy and paste it to any location and in turn copy and paste any message back to de-code it. L Mo is a demonstration of freedom, math and a boring afternoon with no much to do. I built it with the hopes that someone inside Capitol Hill might take notice and perhaps try to understand it. I am certain there will be many who will not try to understand math but instead will blame the programmer.
Groucho Marx once said "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies". Never in human history have so many been so adept at practicing politics.
One if by Land, Two if By Sea,
CHARLES R. SMITH
CEO FOUNDER OF SOFTWAR INC.
