(I changed the message name, as it appeared to be entirely too many lines! :-}) At 5:26 PM -0700 7/11/97, Alan Olsen wrote:
McCain Open to Key Recovery Alternative
by Rebecca Vesely
McCain said he met with Microsoft representatives recently to discuss a new technology being developed by the software giant that could be less intrusive and problematic than key recovery. The senator also said he plans to meet with Netscape officials next week to discuss yet another alternative.
This is something we should watch _very_ closely! I cannot imagine any solution acceptable to statists like McCain, Kerrey, Swinestein, Clinton, Freeh, and all the others that would even remotely be acceptable to anyone who cherishes liberty. The extreme danger is that the McCain-Kerrey bill was just so plain terrible that it is being used as a bargaining chip to get a "compromise." And that compromise could be fed by helpful, hopeful corporate spinmeisters. The danger is that the work MS was doing a few years ago on key recovery could be made part of the basis of the "new industry compromise." I had hoped this had died when Chairman Gates came out so strongly against key escrow and GAK in his book. (The recent discussion of "collective contracts," where an industry-government deal binds us all, is timely.)
Just two days ago, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill, FBI director Louis Freeh testified on the need for mandatory domestic key recovery, and some senators on the committee, notably the chairman, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), seemed to agree that some sort of domestic key recovery is needed to allow law enforcement to wiretap suspect digital communications and transactions.
The ground is shifting rapidly from "we need a law to recapitulate Americans' right to strong crypto" (Pro-CODE) to "we need key recovery in exported products and when government networks are involved" (McCain-Kerrey) to "some sort of domestic key recovery is needed" (Freeh-Hatch-Pol Pot). Let them all hang. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."