Carl, I think the main problem here is that the government seized the initiative by using "Key Escrow" when they really mean "Government Access to Keys"; also, the infamous Gore->Cantwell letter refers to SKE, but clearly means, from context, that they're referring to what you refer to as KEG. This makes it difficult to advocate key escrow of any form without appearing to endorse "escrow" with the government as the grantee. Also: One can divide the use of encryption in computer networks in two classes: - encrypting real-time communications - encrypting stored data (files). Key escrow in the former case is only useful in the presence of wiretaps, since the encrypted data is ephemeral. The business/commercial justification for key escrow (having a "spare key" around) is really only applicable in the second case. - Bill