Wow! That procedure, if it could be verified to be followed, is almost good enough to satisfy my queasy feeling that some *very dificult* and *very publicly* accessable means of opening a back door might just not be appropriate. Even though this goes strongly against my personal interest I can envision situations where I would want them to have that ability. Imagine that it is your city that gets a terrorist nuke built in one of its basements. Truly secure and easy communication makes that a whole lot easier but then since a truly secure box is real simple to make, it sort of obviates the reasoning for trying to do the standardization anyway. Anybody who really wants absolute security will be able to get it at some price that won't be too high. :-) I would like to propose us the challenge to come up with a way utilizing this crypto technology and signatures and such to guarantee a verifiable trail whenever it is done that is available to any court of law. The implication is clear that other forms will be outlawed if this package is sold. No point in even doing it otherwise. So in case they win this one I suggest that, as Tom Lehrer talks about on his album Revisited, we "Be Prepared." :-) Peace, Bob -- Bob Cain rcain@netcom.com 408-354-8021 "I used to be different. But now I'm the same." --------------PGP 1.0 or 2.0 public key available on request.------------------