Fun_People Archive
26 Mar
NSA holds patent on "holographic storage device"

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 100 10:11:55 -0800
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: NSA holds patent on "holographic storage device"

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From: Justin Mason

[removes pipe, says]  "I'm no laser physicist, but this looks like the
plans for some kind of massive storage device."  ;)

The article is a little over-the-top, but I can see how this big storage
will be handy for massive TWINKLE-style sieves.

--j.  (quick! Slashdot don't have it yet! ;)

[Original article deleted from here and moved to the end of this e-message... -psl]

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From: Tom Parmenter
Re: NSA holds patent on "holographic storage device"

|From: Keith Dawson <dawson@world.std.com>
|
|Justin -- thanks, blogged, complete with pipe-smoking commentary.
|
|KD, in whose favorite cheesy 1954 sci-fi pic the general whips the
|    pipe from his mouth and grits out: "So that's how they do it.
|    Electricity."
|
|http://tbtf.com/blog/2000-03-19.html

And recalls Captain Kirk's analysis of some evil plot or other:  "They
did it using algorithms."

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From: Dan Kalikow
Re: NSA holds patent on "holographic storage device"   (topic drift)

At 11:49 AM 3/24/2000 -0500, Tom Parmenter wrote:
...
>And recalls Captain Kirk's analysis of some evil plot or other:  "They
>did it using algorithms."

... But don't order yet!  If memory serves, there was a gee-whizz article
of major proportions in the Science section of a TIME Magazine, circa the
'70s or '80s, to the effect that MACROS were a truly revolutionary
innovation that would enable those chrome-dome computer geeks to Change
The World As We Know It.  I remember laffing my ass off.

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From: Justin Mason
Re: NSA holds patent on "holographic storage device"

Keith Dawson said:

> KD, in whose favorite cheesy 1954 sci-fi pic the general whips the
>     pipe from his mouth and grits out: "So that's how they do it.
>     Electricity."

Excellent! Of course nowadays it'd be: "So that's how they do it.  The
internet."

--j.  (... hmm, actually, I think I've seen that one)

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[Original article, moved here from earlier in this e-message... -psl]


http://www1.ekstrabladet.dk/VisArtikel.iasp?PageID=43390

SPEEDING SPIES: NSA HOLDS PATENT ON REVOLUTIONARY NEW COMPUTER STORAGE DEVICE

Echelons spies have developed new, sensational computer-processing power
that gives them mind-boggling surveillance potential

Denmark's ministers of defense, justice and research are left holding the
bag. Up to now, the only line of protection against Echelon's illegal
surveillance they have time and again recommended is to 'use encryption'.

This strategy has now been severely undermined.

Because NSA's Echelon service has developed a holographic computer
technology that gives the electronic spies new, astounding potential to
monitor and register their subjects and to break codes.

Ekstra Bladet bases its current disclosures on newly discovered documents
from the US Patent Office.

The new patent moves us closer to a Big Brother society by leaps and bounds.
Objectively speaking, this new invention enables the NSA to store and
process unprecedented, enormous amounts of data.

At the same time, the new system is capable of transferring and processing
large amounts data at an incredibly greater speed than the computers we
know today. And remember that the NSA already had an enormous processing
capacity.

Large quantities of data. High speed. Big problems. Especially for people
who want to communicate in peace without anyone nosing around.

BIG PROBLEMS

First of all, the new storage potential means that the NSA can store much
larger volumes of data from monitored conversations and intercepted e-mails
than ever before.

Secondly, the system's speed means that the bugged conversations and e-mails
can be processed and sorted much faster than ever before.

Thirdly - the worst aspect by far - the newly developed system can be used
to break the encryption which is otherwise the only defense against the
spies' illegal surveillance.

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Ekstra Bladet presented the new patent to Peter Landrock from Cryptomathic
in _rhus, Denmark for his comments. Peter Landrock is undoubtedly one of
the world's leading cryptologists. From 1992 to 1995, Peter Landrock was
president of the International Association of Cryptologic Research. Since
1996, he has been a member of Microsoft's Technical Advisory Board and
affiliated with Cambridge University as senior researcher.

"Regardless of their intentions, the memory technology they have patented
can definitely be used to make exhaustive searches," says Peter Landrock
to Ekstra Bladet. Exhaustive search is a code-breaking technique. It is
based on instructing a computer to try every single code combination until
it finds the right code, after which the user can read the text.

To perform the fastest possible exhaustive search on a encrypted text, a
computer system needs an incredibly large storage capacity. To decipher a
coded letter, an ordinary computer system would need from now to eternity
and then some.

CODE SMASHER

The NSA's latest invention is tailor-made to smash the code systems used
around the world as protection against spies.

Only a few months ago, an Israeli researcher showed how an ordinary
household computer with a large hard disk can be used to break encrypted
mobile telephones using exhaustive search.

"It was presented by one of the world's leading cryptologists, a man named
Shamir, and some of his students... he is probably the world's leading
cryptologist," says Peter Landrock.

But aren't you in cryptology's world heavyweight division, too?  "Maybe.
Okay."

But if Shamir is capable of decoding mobile telephones on a continuous
basis using an ordinary computer with a large hard disk, then what could
the NSA be capable of?  "Well, it would be safe to multiply Shamir's results
by a factor of 1000. They are interested in achieving a capacity to monitor
thousands of mobile telephones or communication between telephones. They
are in a different league altogether," says Peter Landrock to Ekstra Bladet.

Denmark's Minister of Justice Frank Jensen, Minister of Defense Hans
HTkkerup and Minister of Research Birte Weiss have repeatedly asserted that
powerful encryption is the only way to protect against Echelon's illegal
surveillance.


THE HOLOGRAPHIC COMPUTER

The NSA was awarded its patent for the holographic computer on February 15
of this year. The NSA's new super patent has number 6.026.053 and was issued
by the US Patent Office. Link to the complete text of the patent:

US Patent database.
			[jm: that's:]
http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&p=1&S1=('National+Security'.ASNM.)&OS=AN/

By Bo Elkjaer and Kenan Seeberg

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