Path: digex.net!lynx.unm.edu!pacs.sunbelt.net!udel!wupost!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!ames!sgi!cdp!dsobel Newsgroups: alt.privacy.clipper Subject: CPSR Key Escrow Comments (long) Message-ID: <1838400007@igc.apc.org> From: David L. Sobel <dsobel@igc.apc.org> Date: 27 Sep 93 10:58 PDT Sender: Notesfile to Usenet Gateway <notes@igc.apc.org> Lines: 200
September 27, 1993 Director, Computer Systems Laboratory ATTN: Proposed FIPS for Escrowed Encryption Standard Technology Building, Room B-154 National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, MD 20899 Re: Request for Comments; Docket No. 930659-3159 This letter constitutes the formal comments of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) on the proposed Federal Information Processing Standard for an Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES), as described in the Federal Register on July 30, 1993 (58 FR 40791). CPSR, a national organization of professionals in the computing field, has a long-standing interest in government policies concerning cryptography and computer security. During the past several years we have pursued an extensive study of cryptography policy in the United States. We have organized several public conferences, conducted litigation under the Freedom of Information Act, and appeared on a number of panels to discuss the importance of cryptography for privacy protection and the need to scrutinize carefully government proposals designed to limit the use of this technology. While we do not represent any particular computer company or trade association, we do speak for a great many people in the computer profession who value privacy and are concerned about the government's key escrow initiative. To properly evaluate the key escrow proposal, it is necessary to consider the Computer Security Act of 1987, which made clear Congress' intent that in the area of unclassified computing systems NIST -- and not the National Security Agency (NSA) -- would be responsible for the development of technical standards. The Act emphasizes public accountability and stresses open decision-making. In the spirit of the Act, NIST set out in 1989 to develop a public key cryptography standard. According to documents obtained by CPSR through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), NIST recommendFrom owner-cypherpunks Fri Oct 1 10:30:15 1993 Received: by toad.com id AA09012; Fri, 1 Oct 93 10:28:09 PDT Received: by toad.com id AA09009; Fri, 1 Oct 93 10:27:43 PDT Return-Path: <msattler@netcom.com> Received: from netcom.netcom.com ([192.100.81.100]) by toad.com id AA09005; Fri, 1 Oct 93 10:27:41 PDT Received: from netcom2.netcom.com by netcom.netcom.com (5.65/SMI-4.1/Netcom) id AA01395; Fri, 1 Oct 93 10:27:53 -0700 Date: Fri, 1 Oct 93 10:27:53 -0700 Message-Id: <9310011727.AA01395@netcom.netcom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: mgream@acacia.itd.uts.edu.au (Matthew Gream), cypherpunks@toad.com From: msattler@netcom.com (Michael Sattler) Subject: Re: POISON PILL :-) At 10:35 10/1/93 -0500, Matthew Gream wrote:
I have Australian Defence Security Clearance stickers on my computer, they are so cool, these little yellow and red stickers that authorise the computer for secure use (and something else I can't remember).
Any chance of getting a few sent to me in San Francisco? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael S. Sattler msattler@netcom.com +1 (415) 358-3058 Digital Jungle Software Encrypt now; ask me how. (finger for PGP key) "Don't Panic!" -- Douglas Adams "Don't Panic. Stay Cool." -- PRZ