Clinton UN Speech / Msg to Prez/VP

[Mike Ingle]

In his UN speech this morning, Clinton talked about cracking down on nuke
and missile proliferation, and he also mentioned eliminating cold-war-era
restrictions which are harming American business. Let's put together a
message to president at whitehouse.gov and vice-president at whitehouse.gov
(since Gore is the info-highway guru) stating our position. 

Points we should make: (please modify and add to this list)

* Crypto export restrictions are among the most obsolete and oppressive
  of these restrictions.

* Americans can be jailed for exporting software which is widely used
  throughout the world (e.g. DES), and which in many cases was even
  developed outside the U.S.
 
* These restrictions have already hurt American software companies.

* They will prevent America from taking the lead in many crucial
  information technologies.

* They will leave American companies vulnerable to industrial espionage.

And our position on Clipper:

* Clipper should not be established as a mandatory standard
  for the general public or for business.

* Alternatives to Clipper should not be restricted.

* Telecommunications companies should not be coerced into using Clipper.

* Clipper chips should not have any special export status due to the
  fact that we keep the keys. This would put American makers of crypto
  hardware at a serious disadvantage in the world market. 

* Clipper should be reserved for its stated purpose - protection of
  non-classified information within the Federal government.

* Use outside the government should be purely voluntary.

* The whole concept of key escrow needs serious public examination.
  While the government may have the right, with a warrant, to
  knock down your door, key escrow is equivalent to requiring every
  citizen to give the police a copy of his or her key. This is a major
  departure from the status quo, not a continuation of it.

--- MikeIngle at delphi.com

P.S. It could be worse. Remember Clipper was a Bush administration plan.
Bush was a former CIA head. He also had a dictatorial attitude and felt
no need to justify his actions to anyone. Bush would probably have tried
to ban crypto outright as soon as Clipper was ready.