When Key Recovery and Key Escrow schemes become a fact of life, there will be abuse and fraud of the nature that some on the cypherpunks list have expressed concern about. The grandmother who is arrested for plugging a parking meter will have her computer confiscated so the authorities can search for evidence that her plugging of the meter was pre-planned. Some $20,000/year clerk is going to dip into someone else's funds to support their drug habit. And some government spook is going to break into a church's computer to find out if they are secret terrorists because they oppose this or that government policy. The fact of the matter is, the government is perfectly happy with the citizens' vocal opposition to these possibilities because it provides a convenient smokescreen for the greater import of Key Escrow. They will occasionally pop a Jim Bell, or a "pornographer" to justify their "need" for Key Escrow, but they will let nature take its course until their capacity to monitor everyone, everywhere, all the time, is an accepted fact of life. The real reasons for the push for Key Recovery and Key Escrow are centered on global concerns. World power is acquired and maintained by acquiring and manipulating information and opinion. Countries and companies are helped to rise and fall from prominence. One is supported, another is sabotaged. One politician has his sins covered and another has them exposed. The rich and the powerful have always ruled, no matter what form the government of the day takes. It has always been so. When the government disinformation specialists incite the citizens to fight over pennies, it is to distract them while the rulers steal their dollars. The chaos of the citizen is the friend of the government, so they work to promote a chaos that will meet their needs. They allow us to have our Saviors, but if our J.F.K.'s and our Martin Luther Kings get too powerful, then they are removed. The allow us to have our victories, but there is always a 'rider' attached that takes away yet another of our rights and freedoms. While we fight battles, the government fights wars. Anyone who believes that the attack on Jim Bell is not aimed at the CypherPunks is a fool. While we fight battles, the government fights wars. TruthMonger