Cypherpunkers, Having just digested the press release, and the subsequent followups on sci.crypt and on here, I am beginning to wonder what ramifications this might have in other countries, specifically the "Superpowers". Surely setting such a precedent in his own country will spark off a flurry of activity in places such as the UK, Germany, France et al, so that they are not "left behind", so-to-speak? To be quite honest, I can't see the English government taking such radical steps about secure telecommunications, quite simply, because BT have such a lacsidasical [sp?] approach to new and emerging technologies. Take for instance, IDSN. Their philosophy of marketing and "selling" ISDN is laughable - I once read a newspaper article which related a tale of a Corporation who wanted to learn if ISDN could be useful to it's business practices, and it seems that BT just kept jostling them between department (Dept X: "Phone Dept Y", Dept Y: "Phone Dept X" etc). Can anyone really see that the US government (or whoever) will completely outlaw all strong data encryption? This violates the basic human right of free communications/privacy. What a world we live in, huh? -- Rick M. Tait Bell Northern Research Europe Tel: +44-81-945-3352, Fax: +44-81-945-3352 Network Management Systems <PGP 2.2 public key available on request> New Southgate, London. UK email: ricktait@bnr.co.uk || rt@cix.compulink.co.uk || ricktait@bnr.ca