...

Also, the key which decodes the GAKed data is just too valuable and too easy to steal.

Assuming the info is encrypted with one GAK key, yes. There might be a series of keys, perhaps for each escrow agency, or an id-number that identifies the key.

I predict that the "Access requires two master key agents" feature that Clipper I pretended to have* gets lost along the way. It wasn't in Steve Walker's software key-gakking system that he and Dorothy were touting a year or so ago, and it's a bit of work to actually implement in software depending on the encryption methods used. [* The Clipper I chip didn't actually implement dual GAK agents, though it could have without much extra effort; that was all part of the process of loading the chip's master-key in the vault charade, and could therefore be easily changed later... ] # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # http://www.idiom.com/~wcs # Confuse Authority!