The current flap over the Clinton Administration's request for and receipt of FBI dossiers is being called "Filegate." The Administration has claimed the requests were innocent, and based on outmoded Secret Service lists. The Secret Service denies this, and says the list did not come from them. Some say the list was of "Clinton's enemies," as it contained mostly leading Republicans and Bush Administration staffers (even including former Sec. of State Jim Baker). Investigations are underway, and Att. General Janet Reno is suggesting that Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr handled this investigation. Why is this good news for us? (Besides the partisan issue of embarrassing and degrading the current government, which is always a good thing.) Because it underscores how difficult it is, even with ostensible safeguards, to control the distribution of dossiers, secret files, and surveillance reports. If the White House can order up several hundred supposedly-secret FBI dossiers on leading Republicans and political enemies, imagine what they could do with "voluntarily escrowed" crypto keys! (We all know all this, of course. My point is that this is providing a timely demonstration of how little government can be trusted to keep its secrets.) In this political year, this "Filegate" flap may effectively table any serious discussions of Reno-type GAK. Not all news is bad. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."