Just think how easy it would be to comply with software key escrow requirements: imagine a new PGP option -- +encrypt_to_escrow_agents=on
I think that this is an exceellent idea, not one to be laughed at. Voluntary compliance is a good thing. Something I'm toying with is the possibility of putting a voluntary tax in my program. 1% of all transactions would go to paying for educational access and access for poor people. If you don't want to contribute, just turn it off. As long as either the vendor or the customer has the option on, 1% will find its way to those groups. Vendors and customers would even be able to charge groups that do not participate extra as a penalty for not being socially conscious. Government intervention with guns is not necessary for warm fuzzy things to occur. Voluntarilly participating in things like escrow and "warm fuzzy liberal taxes" has the potential to take the bite out of legilation intended to regulate us. (And remember, another name for secret-split key escrow is KEY BACKUP, a very important function in any cryptographic system that's intended to last and be reasonably universal.) Cheers, JWS