...

I don't think that I am stating a position of cypher-anarchy, but advocating a position of personal privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

Don't forget the other side of the conversation. While the government cannot (notice I did not say they might not try) effectively control communication, there are other points at which control may be exerted:

These exceptions are noted.

1) communications *with* the government (IRS, Social Security, etc).

I would want the govt. to understand what I am sending them and I would want to understand what they are sending me. Hell, they can have my public key too ;-) But I don't see how they could exercise control simply because I am communicating with them. They cannot come blow my door down or even slap my hand if they know I use encryption in all of my other transmissions. Perhaps I do not understand your point. They can perhaps control the communication between them and me, but not between me and everyone else.

2) communications using someone else's equipment/network (university, employer, etc)

Employers nor universities have any jurisdiction over whether you use encryption in your transmissions while using their networks unless it specifically does not allow it when you first agree to have an account with them. Even in that case, they would be hard pressed to enforce it on a university wide basis. I would hope that employers would be smart enough to encourage the use of encryption for their employees, even if they are personal messages. It would decrease their competitions chances to intercept and decode the important, sensitive info because it would be immersed in even more, unimportant info that is encrypted as well. The govt. has control over the universities in that they are the ones who fund them. If the govt. denied funds to a given college because they did not regulate the type of encryption, or alieviate the encryption use entirely, what reasoning would they give to the schools board and the public for restricting something that is not against the law and is, in fact, protected by a constituional amendment. It would not fly with the voters.

3) communications with anyone (Internet merchant, etc) who says "this is not what <MasterCard|Visa|AmEx> approves..."

I don't quite understand your meaning. I am a merchant and I encourage my customers to use PGP when they send information over the internet, whether to me or to anyone else. I explain to them the reasons for this, assisted by Mr. Zimmermann's excellent analogy of the postcard/envelope difference. Most are business people and readily accept the reasoning and are willing to incorperate it into their dealings. To respond to this point, I would need to understand it better. What is not what Mastercard, et al approves? The encryption?

Each of these may have compelling reasons for complying with what the government wants even if it is not law. IMNSHO "law" is just a means for exacting retribution/revenge - if you have to resort to it, you have already lost.

Indeed, there would be some impact from what point out, however, it would not be enough pressure to suppress the encryption movement unless it became painfully, and obviously, unconstitutional. Law is optimally there for us to redress grievences. There will be skirmishes on the legal front for the next 5 or 6 years, as far as I can see, but eventually the Surpreme Court will set enough precidents that procecutors will be left with little power. I don't think this is an optomistic view, but a realistic one based on the current events and on decisions in related matters by the court in the past. Comments? Bring 'em on! :-) Respectfully, Jeff Conn PS Yeah for Zimmermann and crew! lunaslide On the meridian of time there is no injustice, only the poetry of motion creating the illusion of truth and drama. Henry Miller -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQBvAzD3EHEAAAEDAMVwZzXozPjX18mCenA5fJsdWZXcrhJCxPR+SoVCmR7d4ZVU mwITzPTHo/GyLvJrWyk5YdhheczyY2VSawaMrCN/nWA7K9lwAylbKyPxqBhRYJ3C 2wi2uD5LY2wypNOQyQARAQABtB5KZWZmIENvbm4gPGx1bmFzbGlkZUBsb29wLmNv bT6JAHUDBRAw+1bqS2NsMqTTkMkBAQkTAwCersFbCyk8O0MbGlNcZDAe24CLEWQ0 0C5EHni33W76UsG1bybcLsuMH6HVwLF7IqZivnzc7wkujYPQvCqn8HEYYTld8V9V Cou4dOvA8kV7rHvAn/LuLx7DRruLFrRoPSk= =OIT9 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----