I agree we should write letters, but not (or not just) to government officials. Consider targetting the big phone makers -- both domestic and overseas. Let them know our privacy needs as customers -- that we want secure encryption, that means encryption with _published algorithms_ and without having the key available to _any_ third party, be it the U.S. or any other government, or any nontrustworthy private organization. I almost agree with Sandy that "we've won", but an important part of the market process that brings such victory is giving good customer feedback to communications suppliers. Also for consideration: boycott AT&T and all other companies making phones with the wiretap chip, and let the phone makers know about the boycott early and often. Also I am curious specifically how (a) encrypted international phone calls and (b) foreign-made phones will fair under this proposal (or possible follow-on proposals when they see the weak points in this one). Can the U.S. government dictate key registration to the world? I agree with Perry that "cypherpunks" is a bad label when these kinds of issues get raised in public, and would also add "crypto-anarchy" to that. Our main "talking point" is privacy, and other less popular stuff is best kept -- private. Nick Szabo szabo@techbook.com
Also for consideration: boycott AT&T and all other companies making phones with the wiretap chip, and let the phone makers know about the boycott early and often.
Boycotting AT&T overall isn't going to do much economic harm, since the number of anti-wiretap chips is small in comparison to the number of long-distance companies. If you want to hurt them, get them where it counts. 1. The AT&T wiretap phone is designed by a division in Greensboro. Find out everything that this specific division makes. 2. Take this list and in the second column write down all the products which directly compete with those in the first column; these are the alternatives. 3. Get Communication Week to give (or sell) you a mailing list of their subscribers; these folks are already qualified purchasers of telecom equipment. 4. Send and educational mailing to this list, explaining that if they support AT&T in wiretapping, that soon they'll be screwed themselves. Include the list of AT&T products and alternatives and urge people to voice their frustration by buying from someone else. They might also want to send in the sample protest letter you've included. Now this strategy has a few characteristics I'd like to point out. First, if no one buys wiretap chips, the wiretap chip doesn't gain market share, a very important point where compatibility creates positive feedback loops in the market. Second, it's selective in it's targets; the model here is to target one division. When sales actually suffer, there is the possibility of getting the division manager fired for taking an action not in the best interest of the company. A shareholder lawsuit might also help here. If you can bring down wrath on one manager's head, you will deter others from following the same strategy. Third, since this is such a charged issue, you might be able to get donated mailing lists, ad agency consults (Jerry Mander comes to mind), etc. free or cheap. At the very least, such a campaign doesn't cost a lot (on corporate terms) to do entirely commercially; CPSR and/or EFF could mount it. As a second round, target the PBX division of AT&T, since that's where the next round of chip deployments are. Eric
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szabo＠techbook.com