At 10:47 AM 1/7/96 -0800, Raph wrote:

My best guess is that we're seeing a distortion of this interchange. If I were a Chinese dissident, I wouldn't want to use GAK, for three reasons: using US-lackey encryption is certainly not going to get you into any _less_ trouble than using independent encryption, if you used GAK you'd be working as a US spy whether you wanted to be or not, and finally, who says the Chinese can't decrypt it, especially with the rapid growth of television.

I can also think of another good reason that no dissident in their right mind would want to use US escrowed GAK. How many times have individuals been sold out for some "greater good". I can just imagine some dissident getting sold out as the result of some mega-trade deal or the like. (And I am sure that they can too...) Why does this news report sound more like someone trying to sell GAK to the US public and not "chinese dissidents?

Raph

P.S. To those who are suriprised that I'm still here - my flight got delayed, and I'm waiting it out on the Net, in true geek style.

Alan Olsen -- alano@teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano@teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "Governments are potholes on the Information Superhighway." - Not TCMay