Assuming that the "Clipper chip" initiative isn't a teapot tempest, I suppose we'd better start sharpening our rhetorical knives. Privacy arguments and sheer outrage will be useful, but it seems to me that the "modern steganography" discussion from a few weeks back offers an irrefutable argument: By performing rather simple camouflaging, it is possible to make an encrypted message undetectable by encoding it in (images, voice, any other signal that could plausibly contain noise). This is rather easy to do, so those who REALLY want to hide what they're doing (terrorists, criminals, republican campaign staff) will still be able to do so. In fact, by encrypting the wrapper with your "Clipper" system, they look like they're hiding noting. All that you are buying is a false sense of security. derek