Clipper et al.

Achbed Manganime wallace at cs.widener.edu
Wed Feb 23 14:44:14 PST 1994


	I think that the Clipper system has it's heart in the right
place, but that it still has quite a few problems in implimentation.
The keys to the system are kept separate, but NEVER is anything
competely safe or foolproof. The keys, once used, have been exposed to
about 10-15 different officials who, at their own leisure, may make a
copy of the key and use it. Every time a key is used, more people have
the opportunity to get it. After 800 wiretaps, the system is virtually
useless. 

	Through the use of Clipper and other various technologies, the
US government is trying to hedge its way into control of the Net. This
is not neccesarily a good thing. I think that the Net should have its
own system of governemt: common sense. There would be no "President".
There would only be a "Congress" of the people, which would include
everyone. It could be set up as a newsgroup, or something. The use of
keyed signatures would come in handy so that people would not be able
to "stuff" the "votes", etc. I think it would be an interesting
experiment. The "net.gov" would have its own electronic embassy, and
the indivdual world governments would not be able to "force" their
will upon everyone. The problem with a government making laws against
certain on-line actions is that not all people are actually located in
that country. The whole thing gets messier from there. A net.gov would
solve a lot of problems. Any ideas? (I admit, it's not too
appropriate, but I decided to get the discussion going. :) )

	- DW -

wallace at cs.widener.edu -- Sig of the Day -- Dennis.S.Wallace at cyber.widener.edu
"Who the hell is Cthulu?" - Mark Schroy








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