Dorothy: We have not been formally introduced. My name is Steve Blasingame. I am a long-time proponent of quality encryption systems for both private and commercial communications. I am also a long-time employee of The AT&T Company responsible for AT&T-GIS strategies, programs and products in internetworking. I am very pleased that AT&T is manufacturing the "Clipper Phone" product and believe that "Clipper" is an enabling technology for government and business. However, I must challenge the basis of your "Newsday" editorial as false.
" The Clinton administration has adopted the chip, which would allow law enforcement agencies with court warrants to read the Clipper codes and eavesdrop on terrorists and criminals."
It would be great if this were true, but it is false. Criminals and terrorists operate outside the confines of the law and are not obliged to use encryption schemes sanctioned by statute.
" But opponents say that, if this happens, the privacy of law-abiding individuals will be a risk. They want people to be able to use their own scramblers, which the government would not be able to decode."
Given that criminals would not be obliged to use the statutory method of encryption, what other purpose could be served by such a technology enforced by law? " If the opponents get their way, however, all communications on the information highway would be immune from lawful interception." It is clear that the security of communications on the information highway is an important issue. However, as a corporate citizen, I am more concerned about the un-lawful monitoring of communications and do not consider that there is a sufficiently robust encryption technology to make a statutory encryption standard workable for more than a few years.
" But then who would have thought that the World Trade Center bombers would have been stupid enough to return a truck that they had rented?"
I think that this qualifies as an appeal to ignorance. "Can you prove it isn't true?"
"... Lawlessness would prevail."
If you examine definition 3 from the latest edition of the "American Heritage Dictionary" in your study, you will find that "Lawless" means "not governed by law." This is certainly a law that we can all do without. Very truly yours, Steve Blasingame bsteve@zontar.com