Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 12:16:21 -0400 From: Bill Sommerfeld <sommerfeld@orchard.medford.ma.us>
I think the main problem here is that the government seized the initiative by using "Key Escrow" when they really mean "Government Access to Keys";
Exactly. The term is tainted. Meanwhile, the offense to the English language remains even if we give the term up as tainted. For example, there's a line in one of our publications (the Data Security Letter) talking about this process: FBI representatives stressed concern that users not be able to use encryption products separated from the key escrow process. That's true to the FBI's word choice. So -- postulate a Key Escrow service with escrow agents chosen by Fidel Castro and the Columbian drug cartel as grantee -- or, as an alternative, postulate a PGP key provided by the FBI for good little boys and girls to include as a recipient during encryption with PGP-voice. Which one gives the FBI access? - Carl P.S. (I know: neither, because there aren't any good little boys and girls, but I was talking about English semantics, not reality. :-)