circling the wagons

[derek@cs.wisc.edu (Derek Zahn)]

Assuming that the "Clipper chip" initiative isn't a teapot
tempest, I suppose we'd better start sharpening our rhetorical
knives.

Privacy arguments and sheer outrage will be useful, but it
seems to me that the "modern steganography" discussion from
a few weeks back offers an irrefutable argument:

  By performing rather simple camouflaging, it is possible
  to make an encrypted message undetectable by encoding
  it in (images, voice, any other signal that could plausibly
  contain noise).  This is rather easy to do, so those who
  REALLY want to hide what they're doing (terrorists, criminals,
  republican campaign staff) will still be able to do so.
  In fact, by encrypting the wrapper with your "Clipper"
  system, they look like they're hiding noting.  All that you
  are buying is a false sense of security.

derek