Cypherpunks of the world, encrypt! Enclosed below is a posting I made to debunk Denning's claim that the proposed key registration is needed to thwart criminals. P.S. I still need more comments on how the Hackers session on crypto should go. I've gotten some good private e-mail, but little debate here on the list itself. --Tim Newsgroups: sci.crypt,comp.org.eff.talk,alt.conspiracy Path: netcom.com!tcmay From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May) Subject: Re: A Trial Balloon on Registered Keys Message-ID: <1992Oct29.022842.8177@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5 References: <1992Oct28.214920.15601@tessi.com> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 02:28:42 GMT Some comments about the National Security Agency (NSA) and why it wants to restrict wide use of encryption. George Mitchell (george@tessi.com) wrote: : Now it's my turn to go out on a limb. I believe that all the parti- : cipants in this discussion would agree that: When the Government : can show, through legitimately obtained evidence, that a particular : encrypted communication relates to a crime, then they can, after : the fact, subpoena the plaintext of that communication. What : most of us object to is having to yield the keys before the fact. Agreed. The current procedure for subpoenaing documents works fairly well. But Prof. Denning's comments clearly indicate the concern is with catching terrorists, kidnappers, subversives, and other such types _in the planning stage_. That is, wiretapping and surveillance. And I'll got out on a limb, too. My suspicion, and that of many others, is that the case of the FBI catching terrorists before the act in the U.S. (and there's a well-known case of a Japanese Red Army terrorist caught in the Midwest several years ago) reveals the sources the FBI uses. The NSA is the likely source. Only the NSA listening in on millions of telephone conversations (not banned by any law...the laws you hear about on wiretapping and surveillance mostly deal with the FBI, law enforcement, and, supposedly, the CIA. The NSA is almost completely exempt from such laws.). If you haven't yet read James Bamford's "The Puzzle Palace," run out and get a copy and read it. You'll see why former DIRNSA General Odom called Bamford "an unindicted felon." (Why in the eyes of the National Security Establishment, that is.) SIGINT OPERATION MINARET, begun in 1969 when Nixon declared the "War on Drugs," brought the NSA together with the FBI, CIA, BNDD (Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, precursor to DEA) to launch a series of new surveillance programs. In May 1970 the NSA extended routine surveillance to _pay phones_ in suspect areas (sound familiar, with the Digital Telephony Bill?). The release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 revealed the extent of FBI and NSA elsur (electronic surveillance) on U.S. citizens. OPERATION SHAMROCK goes back even further. Beginning in 1945, the FBI and NSA (its precursors, actually, such as Army Signal Corps, etc.) cooperated to monitor dissidents, radicals, authors, etc. It was not until October 1973 that about-to-be-fired Attorney General Elliot Richardson (now fighting for INSLAW in a very similar case, which Prof. Denning ought to read about) ordered the FBI and the CIA's "Security Service" (aptly named SS) to stop requesting NSA surveillance material. In 1977 the Justice Department recommended against prosecution of the FBI and NSA employees engaged in Shamrock and Minaret. Few Americans understand how pervasive is the NSA's listening system. COINTELPRO, Huston Plan, RCA Global (provided copied of all telegrams for 40 years!), FINCEN, and so many other keywords! Huge antennas in West Virginia, in Idaho, and elsewhere (mostly located near major satellite downlinks). Read Bamford's book. Then be afraid....be _very_ afraid. Understand that there are virtually no laws governing the NSA's surveillance of fax machines, modems, the Internet (including all of these postings, obviously), voice phones, telex and TWX, and on and on. Because of the "national security" role, wide lattitude is given. No doubt some criminal plans are uncovered. The NSA detected, it has been admitted, the planned bombing of the Berlin discotheque that led to the '86 raid on Libya. (However, the bombing still occurred...draw your own conclusions.) But is it worth the price? Now there is talk of using the NSA's formidable listening abilities for economic espionage against our economic opponents! Is it any wonder the NSA is scared sh..less over the spread of secure and untappable communications systems? Be afraid, be _very_ afraid. -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | PGP 2.0 and MailSafe keys by arrangement.