Admin Feigns Back Off On Crypto Bill
News report today: Reinsch told reporters that strategy will be to follow advice he has been given and not to circulate Administration draft bill. Issue is so polarized, he said, that that bill would be dismissed quickly, and some of its content that lawmakers might want to adopt also would be rejected because it came from Administration. Reinsch said it's close call, and Administration is reevaluating its tactics constantly. This seems to coordinate with Kerrey's initiative to lump all crypto bills into one "acceptable to the leadership and the White House." http://jya.com/backoff.htm BTW, another report claims that proposed new regs will allow banks the special privilege of strong crypto if they come up with an acceptable KMI within two years. This seems to be what Kerrey means when he says NSA's Crowell is working with industry to develop an acceptable KMI along the lines of what government is preparing for its own use. All interests to be subservient to the Number One interest?
John Young wrote: | BTW, another report claims that proposed new regs will allow | banks the special privilege of strong crypto if they come up | with an acceptable KMI within two years. This is entirely newspeak and nonsense to drive a 'flick the switch' shift to GAK. Banks already have FINCEN, the IRS, and the FDIC constantly deep inside their books for whatever purpose the Feds deem appropriate. There is absolutely zero call for KR within banks. (I'm assuming that an acceptable KMI means KR. After all, the NSA wrote the current banking KMI (X9.17, X9.9), and it doesn't seem to have any KR in it. The ABA wrote the latest revs of those specs to use 3des, which seemingly takes them out of the realm of acceptable.) Analagous arguments can be made about brokerages and other NBFIs and the SEC, or other branches of government. I've heard a story, may be urban legend, that the SEC recently sent someone to jail on insider trading on the basis that his father made a huge profit on a stock deal. There was no phone or mail traffic recorded that would indicate collusion. Someone (Unicorn?) may have a reference. Adam -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume
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Adam Shostack -
John Young