: From: solman@mit.edu : This is a relatively inane conspiracy theory. Gates hardly requires any : assistance since the feds were already committed to setting up licenses : in bands that are good for these types of networks. Both the FCC and Hughes : have sped up their efforts towards these systems in recent days. That's just the terrestrial side. What about actually getting the birds up? : And the satellite system is not Bill Gates. He is an investor, and a fairly : small one. Gates and McCaw (sp?) gave that venture much more by attaching : their names to it than they did by giving a few of their millions. I seem : to recall Gates' share being 7 megabucks. All the more reason to look at the investors more closely and see what other quid pro quo's have been arranged. : will be too late and that B) software based escrows are a good thing because : they take the wind out of hardware based encryption efforts and they are : difficult to make mandatory. This sort of talk is dangerous. If cypherpunks don't have a united front against SKE, I can't see the less radical front organisations like EFF and CPSR (well, maybe just EFF) going balls to the wall against it either. Compromises should be resisted in order to force USG to show their true colors when they finally demand to outlaw all non-escrowed crypto. Otherwise it'll sneak up on us in the night like the Christian Coalition's goal of taking over the Republican party. G