And here I'll comment on Ken Bass's excellent comments (there were many excellent points).
He pointed out that the driving force for crypto policy is probably the _law enforcement_ camp, not the _intelligence agency_ camp.
Ken pointed out that law enforcement had to have gotten enough evidence prior to a wire tap request to show probable cause. If this is the case, then the only usefulness of wire taps is to improve the likelihood of conviction and not the detection of potential terrorist (or child molestation or your favorite bad guy) plots. Therefore, it is important to cut through the rhetoric and to challenge Reno and Freeh and others when they spout such non-sense, unless they are foreshadowing an Orwellian state (where you might as well expect a camcorder in every bedroom. After all, the most common case of child abuse/molestation/spousal abuse is in the home. Better protect the public!) Ern