From mail.netcom.com!toad.com!cypherpunks-request Wed Jun 23 23:23:59 1993 Return-Path: <mccoy@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu> Message-Id: <199306240625.AA19484@tigger.cc.utexas.edu> Subject: Re: Government fear of strong crypto To: cypherpunks@toad.com Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 01:25:13 -0500 (CDT) From: Jim McCoy <mccoy@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu> Cc: pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu In-Reply-To: <70188.pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu> from "Pat Farrell" at Jun 23, 93 07:29:41 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL21] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2400 > From: "Pat Farrell" <pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu> [...] > > The "government" as a whole is not against crypto. The NSA is _very > strongly_ against it. There are 60,000 or more bureaucrats in NSA that would > be effectively put out of work by widespread strong crypto. Hmmm..... actually I must disagree with this. The NSA may oppose strong crypto, but a few facts should be brought up: 1) The NSA is not chartered for domestic surveillance work. If you discover the NSA watching you within the US you can have them arrested. They are probably more interested in the systems being put in use around the world and less about systems internal to the U.S. According to the Bill of Rights Foundation Booklet "CIA OFF CAMPUS" Ex-President Reagan signed in 1981 Executive order # 12333 Which permits the CIA to operate domestically against US citizens if it is believed that said citizen is either an agent of a foreign power or acting on behalf of same. Since this definition has been used during COINTELPRO to allow one to have associates /friends that are foreign born to cause one to be subject to a whole range of unconstitutional activities performed by said agencies. BTW ANY federal intelligence agencie will act as a "cutout" for situations where the prime agency cannot operate legally but another can. I believe a FOIA is in order to find out if E.O. #12333 allows the entire national security apparatus to operate or only the CIA... Unhappily yours kelly > I believe that the FBI and other more public agencies are simply shills for > NSA. The many posting about real wiretap usage and costs simply can't > support taking all the heat last year of Digital Telophony and this year > over Clipper, esp. when they admit that smart crooks wouldn't bother to use > Clipper. Entirely True...!