On Thursday, September 13, 2001, at 01:58 PM, Declan McCullagh wrote:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46816,00.html
Congress Mulls Stiff Crypto Laws By Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 1:45 p.m. Sep. 13, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- The encryption wars have begun.
For nearly a decade, privacy mavens have been worrying that a terrorist attack could prompt Congress to ban communications-scrambling products that frustrate both police wiretaps and U.S. intelligence agencies.
Tuesday's catastrophe, which shed more blood on American soil than any event since the Civil War, appears to have started that process.
Some politicians and defense hawks are warning that extremists such as Osama bin Laden, who U.S. officials say is a crypto-aficionado and the top suspect in Tuesday's attacks, enjoy unfettered access to privacy-protecting software and hardware that render their communications unintelligible to eavesdroppers.
In a floor speech on Thursday, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) called for a global prohibition on encryption products without backdoors for government surveillance.
This is the main reason it is ESSENTIAL that the "rest of the world" NOT (repeat NOT) support the U.S. in their upcoming actions against the likely WTC terrorists. If Russia, China, India, Pakistan, the Arab countries, and of course the European nations "sign on," this will truly usher in a New World Order. Strong crypto will be banned so quickly our heads will spin (those of us not already arrested and dealt with). I have no idea how to derail this freight train that is beginning to gather speed. Dark times are coming. I'll bet a complete ban on strong, unescrowed crypto is passed in all European countries, Russia, China, Japan, and the U.S. by, say, December 15th. Congresscriminals are stumbling over their feet in their race to repeal big chunks of the Bill of Rights. For most countries, with no real Bills of Rights, the statists will use this to cement their own power. Dark times. --Tim May