DTB - grim for recreational spies

[Adam Shostack]

| The Digital Telephony Bill states up to 15 years in jail
| for unauthorized tapping of wireless telephony. It seems
| that the EFF puts this on the plus side, as an example of
| the enhanced rights to privacy in the Bill. I have a problem
| with this approach. In presence of strong crypto, would even
| alligator clipping have to be outlawed? (Hidden microphones
| and other intrusions inside your estate is obviously another
| matter.)

	The problem here is twofild.  First, as you point out, strong
cryptography alliviates the need for strong laws, a point missed yb
our legislators.  Second, in the US, there is a court which handles
federal wiretap requests.  Its granted 6500 wiretap orders out of 6500
requests in the last 20 years.  It seems to be too easy to get a
federal wiretap order, and there exists insufficient oversight.

Adam

-- 
Adam Shostack 				       adam at bwh.harvard.edu

Politics.  From the greek "poly," meaning many, and ticks, a small,
annoying bloodsucker.