No Subject

smb at research.att.com smb at research.att.com
Fri Feb 4 17:49:56 PST 1994


	 Subject: clipper_q-and-a.txt
	 >Q.      Who will hold the escrowed keys?

	 >.      The government.

	 All this bullshit doesnot state that a court order is required, rather
	 'legal authorization', which means the NSA for foreign intellingence
	 purposes without a court order.

	 Perhaps what is needed is statuatory protection to prevent the NSA
	 from eavesdropping on U.S. Citizens, communicating domestically,
	 without a court order.

The law already says that.  The government's right to spy on non-Americans
is spelled out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 USC 1801.
Enforcing it is another matter, of course.

I saw an AP wire story today that's illuminating.  It seems that for
years, members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol have been subpoenaing
phone company records without proper authority.  They've been using
a rubber stamp with the commissioner's signature, apparently without
his knowledge or consent -- which he probably wouldn't have given, since
under Tennessee law the Highway Patrol can deal with crimes committed
on a highway, car theft, odometer tampering, or (of course) drug
dealing.  The only state police agency that has such subpoena authority
is the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation -- and even they're limited;
the D.A. is supposed to do such things after authorization by the grand
jury.

And the phone company -- they complied, of course; they had no idea
(they said) that the subpoenas were illegal.






More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list