I have seen the text of the speech. The wire service accounts wildly, wildly exaggerate. This is a non-story...except for AG Reno's assertion that it would take the government a year to break one DES message with a "supercomputer". She presumably believes this. We know the number for known plaintext attacks, but assuming you don't have a known plaintext, what's a more reasonable assumption? [This message may have been dictated with Dragon Dictate 2.01. Please be alert for unintentional word substitutions.] A. Michael Froomkin | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) Associate Professor of Law | U. Miami School of Law | froomkin@law.miami.edu P.O. Box 248087 | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's hot here. And humid.