RE: column on 802 process in relation to 802.11 security
Roger,
All our, non-copyrighted, documents were available on Alphagraphics and on
an ftp site of the IEEE as well as at the University of Twente, NL. The
copyrighted material was first available at the Alphagraphics place for a
nominal charge. It is not doable to send paper copies for free.
Later, I made sure that all drafts were posted for sale at the IEEE web
site. I had to push through the various levels to get the drafts posted, but
I made it be there.
If you compare this process with the process of ETSI or of ISO and its
national bodies, you will find ours clear open.
Vic
---------------
Vic Hayes
Agere Systems Nederland B.V., formerly Lucent Technologies
Zadelstede 1-10
3431 JZ Nieuwegein, the Netherlands
Phone: +31 30 609 7528 (Time Zone UTC + 1)
FAX: +31 30 609 7556
e-mail: vichayes@agere.com
http://www.orinocowireless.com/
> ----------
> From: Roger B. Marks[SMTP:marks@boulder.nist.gov]
> Sent: 22 March 2001 17:50 PM
> To: stds-802-sec@ieee.org
> Cc: carl.eklund@nokia.com
> Subject: column on 802 process in relation to 802.11 security
>
>
> Here is an interesting article on 802.11 security:
> http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0103.html#10
>
> The 802.16 MAC Chair, Carl Eklund, just sent me the pointer.
>
> The interesting part is not so much the security issues but the claim
> is that 802.11 was not properly peer-reviewed and that this is why
> problems were not discovered. It says:
>
> "Protocols designed in secret, or by closed committees, are the
> worst. The 802.11 process was technically open, but in practice it
> was closed. Anyone could go to the committee meanings, if they wanted
> to pony up the airfare and registration fee and spend their time
> trying to decipher the 802.11 jargon. However, you couldn't just grab
> the standard or read about the cryptography on the net. There was no
> free, generally available, public information."
>
> I don't think it's accurate to say of 802.11 that "in practice it was
> closed". Still, I continue to worry that limiting the availability of
> our drafts is hurting us. The standards distribution agreement with
> IEEE-SA does not help in this regard. Maybe some creative thinking
> can address the issue.
>
> Roger
>
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