[Gllug] Distribution Pecking Order So far

[Paul Nasrat]

On Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 04:39:15PM +0100, Alex Hudson wrote:

> Fact: Word/Excel documents since '97 (except Access, which was from version 
> 2.0) support symmetric RC4 encryption.
> Fact: you can't just 'ignore' it.

Well you don't have to use it :)  Plus it's probably weaker than gpg/pgp
encrypting important documents.

> Fact: I can do it from the English copy of Office I have on my desktop, which 
> is set to UK regional settings, BST time and all the rest.
> 
> The page you looked at explains why Microsoft couldn't _import_ this into 
> France. 

Umm, out of interest does this still hold.  I *thought* that the French
encryption laws had been relaxed recently.

http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/koops/lawsurvy.htm has some details...

> Just to give you something to flame me for: "Office is an industry standard, 
> and didn't get there by being insecure". 

Just like RC4 is an industry standard which didn't get where it is by
being used inappropriately...

Paul

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