Re: TIS, SKE, & CyberCash Inc.

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>]

Timothy C. May says:
> (The scenario I think is likely: SKE is put in at the OS level,
> perhaps with these SLIP/PPP/TCP-IP protocols. Ostensibly "voluntary,"
> it actually won't be, because selection of "escrow agents" will be
> from a list of approved entities. A *truly* voluntary system would
> allow complete bypassing, or selection of a "bit bucket" as the escrow
> agent. Fat chance.)

They can build what they like, Tim. The protocols being defined right
now by the IETF do not include provisions for escrow. Thus far, no one
from the NSA, or even TIS, has come up to me and said that I should
change the draft RFCs that I am writing. Any such OS support for SKE
in Microsoft software would not be interoperable with anyone else's
software. Since the bulk of the internet does not run on Microsoft
platforms, and since Microsoft doesn't sell things like routers and
the like, even Microsoft has to interoperate if they want their
packets to move past the local ethernet.

Perry