On Mon, 28 Feb 94 11:48:59 -0800, "Eric Hughes" <hughes@ah.com> wrote:

John's request will be denied, no doubt, and will go to court. Should he prevail in court, the executive branch is bound by that decision. A key custody database which was public would make the system insecure and unusable. The executive branch could not change this. Only the legislature could.

Do not expect a treatment according to the law by the courts. It has been a long time since courts have considered themselves bound by the text of the laws or the constitution. Instead, John should instruct his lawyers to create delays. A Lawyer that can not create a delay is worthless. In the beginning, until the Government figures out what is going on, the Government will probably also want to create a delay. Cypherpunks should tell the public and every possible buyer of the clipper chip, especially the Corporate buyers that the suit exists, and if it is successful, all clipper keys could be disclosed including the keys to Clipper devices. All data that has been transfered via Clipper could be retroactively exposed! This will cause Clipper to be a commercial flop. In short, we can use FUD to kill Clipper! This is a delicious irony because usually FUD is used by the enemies of liberty, not buy its defenders!

Eric