It may be that traffic analysis of Clipper conversations is a question orthogonal to the switching system employed to establish circuits, but the question remains: does the presence of LEAF blocks on circuits simplify the task of traffic analysis? Methinks it does, particularly as the network gets more complicated. While it's tempting to think of this as a clever back-door way of getting some of the FBI "tap-o-rama" proposals implemented, it's not really interesting until nearly everybody is using a Clipper phone. Consider this little flight of fancy: what if, "in the interest of the privacy of the subscribers", Clipper hardware is installed right in each end-office switch? Thus, every phone call is Clipper encrypted as it passes through the network, even if I don't have a Clipper phone. It might even be that Clipper hardware could be installed right at the network interface. Isn't that nice, the phone company is going out of its way to safeguard my privacy. Only thing is, now every circuit I establish is tagged by an LEAF that identifies me... Oh well, enough paranoia for now. -- | GOOD TIME FOR MOVIE - GOING ||| Mike McNally <m5@tivoli.com> | | TAKE TWA TO CAIRO. ||| Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX: | | (actual fortune cookie) ||| "Like A Little Bit of Semi-Heaven" |