On Tue, 17 Sep 1996 21:02:03 -0700, Lucky Green wrote:
On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Timothy C. May wrote: However, making the government a _required_ part of such plans implies a motive that is not at all the same as what companies wish (mostly, disaster recovery).
The required part will come later. Meanwhile, many big players in the industry are volunteering to include GAK for you.
It seems that in order for this to work Net consumers must be convinced/coerced into accepting the GAK security features. What if, due to a grassroots uprising, Neters refuse to use products which require GAK or Net services which will only operate via GAK? Isn't there an great opportunity being created for S/Wan, Apache and its ilk and third-party (especially off-shore, non-COCOM, produced) security plug-ins?
When I asked the fellow from HP that proposed the CommerceNet position paper how the "voluntary key recovery" he was proposing on his slides could possibly aid law enforcement against criminals who obviously wouldn't "escrow" their keys, he said, and I am not kidding:
"There are many possible interpretations of the words voluntary and mandatory." I was the *only* person in a room full of people working in the industry that seemed bothered by this.
Furthermore, the main worry (for me, at least) is that the government hopes to get its Clipper IV scheme accepted (by means of export laws) at some large fraction of important corporate accounts, not the least of which will be Netscape, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Qualcomm, and suchlike major players in the "infrastructure" business. Once most of these have "bought off" on GAK, pressure will be intense to universalize the process, to make it a felony _not_ to use a "Key Authority."
That's exactly how it will be.
Enacting laws which make criminals out otherwise upstanding citizens is the surest path to civil disobedience/unrest, disrespect for duly constituted government and more serious criminal behavior. I guess I and many friends will be on posters in the Post Office. -- Steve PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Snoop Daty Data | Internet: azur@netcom.com Grinder | Voice: 1-702-655-2877 Sacred Cow Meat Co. | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 7075 W. Gowan Road, #2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Just say NO to perscription DRUGS.