Jim Warren says:

And, a coupla tidbits about Dorothy: I have known her for several years, worked closely with her on creating the first Computers, Freedom & Privacy conference in 1991, have absolutely the *highest* regard for her integrity, honesty and candor -- and absolutely trust what she says ... about a subject on which we may disagree. Dorothy Denning is an honorable person with great personal integrity, and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ I don't see it from her actions. I urge that she be treated as such -- even in disagreement. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ no objective reasons, your words only.

I disagree with your conclusions and believe, that your high esteem of her is rather subjective. But this is way off the topic of this list. Now:

No single person or authority should have the power to authorize wiretaps No single person does, at least for FBI taps. After completing a mound of paperwork, an agent must get the approval of several people on a chain that includes FBI legal counsel before the request is even taken to the Attorney General for final approval. Dorothy Denning

Don't you just love that "must get approval"... Fine, but what if that agent just happens to have a key or two left over from previous tap? And another one is willing to trade him the key he wants now, for one of those other ones? How on Earth is this going to be detected? Once the key (Unit Key) is released - there's no force in the Universe to make it un-released again! From now on, everything encrypted with this chip is essentially clear - AND THIS WILL ENDANGER EVERYBODY TALKING TO THIS CHIP, no matter whether YOU have YOUR key "released" or not... Besides, isn't the described "authorized" tapping procedure the same good old one in use today? How come it doesn't stop illegal wiretaps? [I guess, people break laws?! :-] -- Regards, Uri uri@watson.ibm.com scifi!angmar!uri N2RIU ----------- <Disclamer>

From cypherpunks-request Thu Apr 22 11:57:15 1993