BXA on Crypto Plans

[Peter Trei]

> Date:          Fri, 21 Mar 1997 08:42:22 -0500
> To:            cypherpunks at toad.com
> From:          John Young <jya at pipeline.com>
> Subject:       BXA on Crypto Plans
> Reply-to:      John Young <jya at pipeline.com>

> Excerpt of BXA head William Reinsch statement on Goodlatte's
> SAFEncryption Bill HR 695 on March 20, 1997:
> 
> [...]
> To that end, 
> we will shortly submit legislation intended to do the following:
> 
>   Expressly confirm the freedom of domestic users to choose any 
>   type or strength of encryption.
> 
>   Explicitly state that participation in the key management 
>   infrastructure is voluntary.
> 

I think we should ponder the validity of the underlying assumption
here - that there will be *one* PKI system, and (speculating here)
(i) the government sets what it's requirements are, and (ii) they
will include compromising one's private keys.


> 
>   Offers, on a voluntary basis, firms that are in the business 
>   of providing public cryptography keys the opportunity to 
>   obtain government recognition, allowing them to market the 
>   trustworthiness implied by government approval.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This is a joke, right?

Peter Trei
trei at process.com

Disclaimer: I do not represent my employer.