~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, I've been asked to post the /Expat World/ crypto article to the Cypherpunks Channel. Here 'tis: S a n d y * * * EXPAT WORLD June 15, 1994 "How Big Brother Wants to Listen, Too" (copied without permission) Recently, the White House sent Stewart A. Baker, general counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA), to the annual Computer, Freedom and Privacy Conference in New York City to speak about the Clinton Administration's desire to safeguard the government's ability to eavesdrop on every American. At that conference, Mr. Baker posed the question: "Do you want to live in a world where law enforcement cannot do its job because of the need for privacy?" Everyone who cherishes his constitutional rights should answer, "Absolutely." The Orwellian, or Al Gorewellian, technology that would foster the government's ability to eavesdrop on its cit- izens is essentially a microcircuit that the Administration want all American telephone and computer companies to install in their products. The microcircuit, dubbed the "Clipper" chip, scrambles all electronic communications between individuals, resulting in gibberish to outsiders--all outsiders, that is, but the federal government. The plan to implement the Clipper chip is an insult to the American people and its realization would erode the Fourth Amendment rights of all citizens. As usual, presuming Americans have no more sense than Yahoos, the administration has presented the Clipper chip in the guise of a plan to protect individuals from invasions of their privacy. According to the NSA, because telephone conversations and compu- ter transmissions are becoming so easy to tap, the White House would like to offer the Clipper chip to shield everyone from such unwanted interferences. In reality, the Feds want to see a uniform standard in the type of computer software that secures electronic communications. The reason for this is that people are already protecting their con- versations with a variety of privately-supplied devices, and the FBI, CIA and NSA cannot and will not be able to penetrate such security. With the Clipper chip, everyone has the same lock on his communi- cations. Unfortunately, the government has the keys. The Amer- ican people can do without the overwhelming generosity of this administration. When Charles Freeh, FBI director, testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology and the Law, he said that the chip is necessary because the police and national security agents are falling behind advances in criminal technology. How- ever, no one has offered evidence that a trend of criminals or terrorist using scrambled communications to pass unlawful plots exists, or reasons why a criminal sophisticated enough to use cryptography would be dumb enough to use an American made tele- phone or computer containing the Clipper chip. Worse, the implementation of the Clipper chip would erode the right to be free from illegal searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. According to the President's plan, both the Commerce and Treasury Department would hold keys to unscramble electronic communications, operating as a "key escrow" system. The government would no longer be aiming wiretap technology at specific individuals or specific locations. The presumption would be that everyone is a criminal. Because only two keys partition people's privacy from governmental seizing electronic documents without prior notification is great. If the White House truly desires to use technology for the bene- fit of all, it should mandate the use of a different computer chip. How about one called the Clinterceptor that would act as a sort of modern-day Paul Revere. Through the information super- highway, the Clinterceptor would forewarn the public that the government is about to invade their privacy. Thus, the next time President Clinton and his college roomies are burning the midnight oil and come up with a hair-brained idea like the Clipper chip, an alarm will sound and alert the American people to the government shaking the shackles of the Constitution. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~