Hello again Cypherpunks... A fast follow up to the previous note I dropped at the list... I was asked by a group of businessmen to explain, following up my previous message, why the government was restricting exports on crypto gear/software/knowledge when everything else in the inventory was being shoved out the door, as well as why the media wasn't getting into the picture. My answers: If the domestic market dries up for a product [alternative cryptographic solutions besides Clipper], then traditionally a provider will look to export his products to available markets overseas. With the requirement of a munitions license to deal in these products, few software or hardware houses are going to attempt to get approval and deal with the problems of selling the product overseas. It fits into the strategy of market denial--create apathy at home so people can't support the advances there, and prevent them from making money overseas. Consider it 'follow the money'' in reverse--watch what happens when there is no money to be made in an area. Classic 'die-back.' As for media coverage on the issue, look at what we are talking about. Can you explain it in 4th grade language? Can you put the issues on a 3x5 card? Where is the 'sizzle,' as they say in the news biz? A new product release of PGP? So what. Barlow or other EFF members write an article or speak? So what. Phil makes a comment? So what. Where is the blood, the arrests, the kicking in of doors, the things that make for news? Nada. To sustain interest, you have to have 'developments,' witness the Simpson fiasco. Why does that so dominate the attention of the media and the public? Because the lid gets peeled back and people get to hear more dirt every day. Just try to peel back the lid at NSA, I dare you. What is the solution? There isn't one. There was all sorts of noise when it first became an issue. That noise was in fact detrimental to the cause. Now a news organization will say "we covered that already, so what's new... nothing? drop it." The only thing that can be done is by the continuing effort to discover 'developments' and make those known. Find the holes. Tell people. Keep the situation buzzing. Right now, there is a lot of 'preaching to the choir' going on; lots of high-fives and back-slapping, and when it all is said and done, the government still gets its way. Push on the issue and expand it; demonstrate how strong crypto can be used for secure operating systems and viral protection (don't look for viral signatures, MAC executables and look for changes). Is Clipper the choice of the National Information Infrastructure? If it is, kiss any effort at ANY other form of crypto good-bye. Develop alternates that are more appealing to the market for NII. Push stories of how international industrial espionage is attacking American business, and how strong crypto is needed for commercial enterprise (site the French attacks on companies such as IBM, where the DST [French intel] was the perpetrator, and they could break Clipper). Cypherpunks write code, but they also need to wage political war against the enemy. Michael Wilson Managing Director, The Nemesis Group [A special note to the government 'stoolie'; tell the boys back at McLean and Meade that their purchases through the Maryland Procurement Office are in public databases, and are quite revealing! Tag, you're it!]