CDT Policy Post 2.27 - No New News on Crypto: Gore Restates

[jim bell]

At 06:05 PM 7/14/96 -0700, David Sternlight wrote:

>This post is a courtesy to others who may have been expecting more. 

It's not that we're expecting more...it's just that we're hoping for BETTER.

>It's a
>one-time statement to this list, which I've just joined, of my current
>practice: Silence does not constitute assent.
>David

Well, that's where you're confused.  Our positions are not morally 
equivalent.  Despite trying to hide behind the smokescreen of calling the 
government's GAK position "voluntary," we all know that they are trying to 
misuse their influence to gently force us to use GAK, if by no other means 
that forcing the taxpayer to pay for the system as they have done already.  

The opponents of GAK, on the other hand, are not denying to anyone the right 
to implement a truly voluntary "key-escrow" system, or more likely many 
privately operating ones.  However, such systems will be a service for the 
customer, not the government, and the key will almost certainly not be 
provided to the government on request, and in fact the key will likely be 
stored in an encrypted form that the government won't be able to use.

Quite simply, we do not require your "assent."  You should be trying to get 
OURS.

Jim Bell
jimbell at pacifier.com