ngs.lance.colostate.edu (L. Detweiler) says:

I'm really amazed how unbiased these letters are. In fact, maybe they were designed to be suitable for FOIA release. There is none of the one-sided propaganda tone of the Clipper announcement.

Perhaps they were prepared. However, it seems just as likely that they realized that there would be a vast outcry over Clipper, just as there was over the "Digital Telephony" proposal. They would have to be dumber than even I consider them not even to consider the possibility of public outcry.

Does anyone suppose that the important military aides anticipate FOIA requests and come up with bland and benign documents to satisfy them?

I'll bet they started doing this the moment that the FOIA was passed. Why wouldn't they? It's expedient.

For the first time we have an official confirmation that the original intent of Clipper (or similar technology) was to make it *mandatory*.

Yep. This particular quote ought to be distributed widely. We cypherpunks have known this since the Clipper proposal reared its monstrous head; now it's official writ, only recently declassified. Let's make the most of it.

I think this is rather ironic considering many of the apologist's current main rationalizations (Denning, Sternlight, etc.) that it is a `voluntary' program. Caveat Emptor!

Well, as we've known, they're either shills or idiots. Perhaps both.

`incentivised' -- a cute euphemism for collusion. I wonder to what extent they were `incentivised'.

'Incentivised' indeed. I believe that anyone capable of using such a revolting neologism is, _ipso facto_, untrustworthy. Even Hollywood people don't speak _that_ badly. [. . .]

...

In the meantime, DoD has trapdoor technology ...

wow, they call Clipper `trapdoor technology' -- great PR, for us.

It's pretty appalling that they even _admit_ that it is 'trapdoor' technology. However, as P. T. Barnum once said: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." They're probably planning some new crime already, realizing that Clipper will be defeated. They had Clipper in the hopper since before Digital Telephony was defeated. As Clipper makes Digital Telephony look like a schoolboy prank, prepare for something genuinely monstrous in a few months. Probably just when we start feeling a little complacent and victorious, too. [Thanks to John Gilmore repeated; the FOIA gave very useful information.] ---- Robert W. F. Clark (still waiting on the results rclark@nyx.cs.du.edu of my OWN FOIA request) clark@metal.psu.edu