GAK?

Carl Ellison cme at tis.com
Wed Aug 10 08:42:33 PDT 1994


>Date: Wed, 10 Aug 94 08:13:24 PDT
>From: bshantz at spry.com (Brad Shantz)

>Forgive me for asking a naive question, but what exactly is GAK?  I have seen 
>it mentioned on the list several times in the last few days and don't 
>recognize it.  

It's my term.

GAK = "Government Access to [Citizens'] Keys"

I am offended at the gov't's use of the innocent sounding "Key Escrow" to
describe GAK, so I am using GAK to refer to this practice.  That term zooms
in on the one important characteristic of what the gov't is trying to do
here.  "Key escrow", on the other hand, could be something very innocent --
an arrangement I set up with my lawyer and a bank, for example.

 - Carl










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