---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 11:53:34 -0400 From: Jonah Seiger <jseiger@cdt.org> To: declan@well.com, tbetz@pobox.com Cc: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Re: Useless Crypto Legislation -- NYT reference (Was: Radical Crypto At 12:57 AM -0400 9/6/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:

...

This is a surprise?

To whom?

To be fair, I was going through my crypto-history this evening and noted Brock wrote about a similar proposal two and a half years ago... Hardly a surprise to any of us.

Not a surprise in the sense that we all knew the FBI would propose something like this sooner or later. None-the-less, this is a significant new threat and it would be a very very dangerous for us to underestimate it. The House Intelligence and National Security Committees are voting on SAFE next week. The FBI's draft is no doubt part of the Administration's effort to gut the bill. We should expect that this language will be offered at one or both of those committee votes, and that it stands a good chance of being adopted. That sets up an all out fight on the House floor, and a very tough fight. The debate has changed -- it's now about defeating mandatory key recovery. VTW and CDT have issued an ALERT and are urging Internet users to contact their Representatives on the Intelligence and National Security Committees. Visit http://www.crypto.com/adopt for details. Kudos to Brock for a great piece. Jonah * Value Your Privacy? The Government Doesn't. Say 'No' to Key Escrow! * Adopt Your Legislator - http://www.crypto.com/adopt -- Jonah Seiger, Communications Director (v) +1.202.637.9800 Center for Democracy and Technology pager: +1.202.859.2151 <jseiger@cdt.org> http://www.cdt.org PGP Key via finger http://www.cdt.org/homes/jseiger/