Steve Bellovin <smb@research.att.com> posted this to cryptography: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's NY Times had an article on how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is gearing up for electronic filing of patent and trademark applications (http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/012698patents.html). Since patent applications here are confidential, filings must be encrypted. And of course, one of the things holding up deployment -- of a system where a government agency is the legitimate recipient of the message -- is the "need" for key recovery. "The agency wants to include a "key recovery" system in the software in case the encryption has to be broken." The mind boggles. ----------------------------------------------