Netscape speaks with a forked tongue: Jim Clark, top guy and owner of netscape, has issued a statement in support of government access to keys: "To secure Net communications, the government will need to have access to private data exchanges using what is known as a key escrow security system " and he has issued a statement that Jeff (a netscape employee) has very generously interpreted as anti GAK. (Government access to keys) The only clear and authoritative statement issued by Netscape on GAK is Jim Clark's speech in support of GAK. Everything else is a cloud of unintelligible fog, or was issued by people with no authority and given a minimum of publicity. Jim Clark's supposedly anti GAK statement was incomprehensible to me. Perhaps he needs a punchier ghostwriter: I offer my services free of charge. :-) If Jim Clark wishes to persuade us that his heart is in the right place, he should put something like the following somewhere on the Netscape web pages: "Our customers do not want government access to their cryptographic keys. Mandatory government access to keys violates the rights of our customers. Therefore we will not foist government access to keys on those customers who have freedom to communicate securely. We will only build government access to keys into our products for those customers whose governments force them to provide such access. " If that really is Netscape's policy, then they should tell the world that that really is Netscape's policy, thus instantly relieving the fear, uncertainty, and doubt created by the unfortunate widespread misinterpretation of Jim Clark's original statements. The only clear and authoritative statement issued by Netscape on GAK is Jim Clark's speech in support of GAK. Everything else is a cloud of unintelligible fog, or was issued by people with no authority and given a minimum of publicity. --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ James A. Donald jamesd@echeque.com