Abstract: The use of systems of secret communications as an economical method to increase the security of confidential computerized files has stimulated much interest. Just recently during Congressman Gallagher's Congressional hearings on privacy, it was repeatedly suggested that cryptographic-type protection should be used for data communication lines and storage of confidential information in order to make eavesdropping an extremely difficult task. Today, one finds the very nature of computerized information systems actually facilitates its unlawful reproduction and transmission to anyone with the tools and know-how. Unlike information which is stored with scrambling techniques, information stored in clear form requires no sophisticated technology, nor complex deciphering systems for either decoding or dissemination. More importantly, there is good reason to assume that organized crime and industrial spies have, or will have, the knowledge and the financial resources necessary to acquire and misuse the information in most systems now being considered, including the tapping of communication lines. Finally, once a piece of information is lost, its original confidentiality can never be regained. Since information which has previously been scattered among several rather protected and widespread sources is being collected into one place, wholesale theft of information is very likely to become a continuing fact of life for the American public.
Publication Year: 1899
Publication Date: 1899-12-30
Language: en
Type: article
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