Perhaps there is more reason to be worried than Anonymous lets on. This afternoon I stopped by the office of a Congressional staffer who will, appropriately, remain anonymous. This person knows crypto, follows it, even truly believes in it. But they were pessimistic about any good, or even half-decent, crypto legislation leaving the Congress. Which committee will insert it? And what good crypto legislation would pass a presidential veto? DC crypto-lobbyists should have seen this coming. Instead of lifting export controls -- or even leaving intact the status quo -- Congress is about to make things worse. Perhaps cypherpunks should turn crypto-rejectionist. -Declan On Sat, 21 Jun 1997, Anonymous wrote:
Let's cut all the doom and gloom here. The bill isn't passed yet. It's got to go through at least one and possibly two more committees before it reaches the senate floor, where we'll have another chance to defeat it.
Even then the house has to pass similar legislation. That will be yet another chance.
When Clipper was proposed, a wave of anger and opposition swept forth. The same thing needs to happen now. This fatalism is self defeating.
Either you're part of the solution or you're part of the problem. People who say there's no use fighting, who give up, who oppose the efforts of the crypto lobbying groups in the name of ideological purity, are not part of the solution. They have no right to complain if this law passes. By sitting aside and carping at the efforts of those who are trying to stop this kind of legislation, they are only helping to bring it about.
There is no reason this new bill should be any more acceptable or more successful than Clipper was. We only have to fight it.