Jason Zions writes:

[...] I find it highly unlikely that the contracts in question are for clipper-based phones; we already know the government doesn't plan to use clipper technology itself, since it can be suborned by LEO types.

I think it *very* likely that the government would want to spy on itself just as much as it wants to spy on everybody else. Remember, the government is not a single entity -- out to get us -- but a collection of individuals, some fraction of whom are covering their butts and looking for goats at any given moment (as has been revealed to us by the media). All of whom are interested in maintaining/improving their current status. This is true at the level of the individual, the committee, the agency, the party... in fact at any identifiable organizational level, entities will engage in behavior that profits them even (or especially) at the expense of entities outside themselves. Scott Collins | "Few people realize what tremendous power | there is in one of these things." | -- Willy Wonka ...................................................................... Apple Computer, Inc. | phone: 408 862-0540(v), 974-6094(f) 1 Infinite Loop, MS 301-2C | AppleLink: SCOTTCOLLINS Cupertino, CA 95014 | internet: collins@newton.apple.com