At 03:11 AM 12/9/95 GMT, Dan Weinstein wrote:
You are quoting a reporter and attributing it to Jim Clark, do you understand what is wrong with that?
Jim Clark has had ample opportunity to clarify his statements. He has not clarified his statements and he has not disowned the reported version of his comments, despite repeated requests to do so. Once again I request him to do so. Once again I ask what he means, once again I complain that if that is not what he meant, he should now say something that is unambiguously different from what he was reported as saying.
It has been reported by those that attended the Clipper II meeting on Monday(?) that the Netscape representative read an official statement very much in opposition to GAK.
I have not seen this statement, and I have asked for it: Once again I ask for it. In particular I ask that it be placed on their web if it says what they say that it says.
Jim Clark's supposedly anti GAK statement was incomprehensible to me. Perhaps he needs a punchier ghostwriter:
Clark's statement was certainly something less than clearly in opposition to GAK, but I think at worst he could be said to be resigned to GAK, not a supporter of it.
It was worse than that: he said nothing at all, the "clarification" statement was a cloudy fog.
If Jim Clark wishes to persuade us that his heart is in the right place, he should put something like the following somewhere on the Netscape web pages:
"Our customers do not want government access to their cryptographic keys. Mandatory government access to keys violates the rights of our customers. Therefore we will not foist government access to keys on those customers who have freedom to communicate securely.
We will only build government access to keys into our products for those customers whose governments force them to provide such access. "
If that really is Netscape's policy, then they should tell the world that that really is Netscape's policy, thus instantly relieving the fear, uncertainty, and doubt created by the unfortunate widespread misinterpretation of Jim Clark's original statements.
Jeff Weinstein has promised that when the representative from the conference returns to Mountain View, they will publish his statement on web.
Still waiting. I am sure that by now Netscape knows what its policy is on government access to keys: I ask them to tell the world, and to tell the world in such a way that they cannot retract their words without some embarrassment.
Again, you seem fixated on making Clark's opinions equivelent to the position of Netscape Communications Corp, this is not a reasonable assumption.
Clark is not a Netscape employee. Clark owns a controlling interest in Netscape and is chairman of the board. Netscape's policies are whatever he says they are, except in the highly unlikely event that he is opposed by both Jim Barksdale and Kleiner Perkins plus a substantial majority of the lesser shareholders. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com