Re: on privacy in digital communications

[karn@qualcomm.com (Phil Karn)]

>From UC.Edu!Benjamin.Britton@cdp.igc.org Mon May 24 06:12:53 1993

> Anyone
>who has grown up wondering why they did not prosecute the assassination
>of President Kennedy has reason to fear the "Clipper Chip" technology.

Because the only credible suspect was killed two days later, and there is
no provision for posthumous trials in the US?

This reminds me of that great exchange in the movie "Sneakers" between
Dan Ackroyd and Sidney Poitier. From memory:

Ackroyd: "You know, the NSA shot Kennedy".
Poitier: "What? Now you're telling me that the NSA was responsible for
the JFK assassination??"
Ackroyd: "No, they only shot him. He's still alive..."

I think it would help enormously if we Cypherpunks stayed focused on
our core issue: the use of strong cryptography to protect personal
privacy against all potential intruders, private or government. It
will not help us to gain mainstream acceptance to blur our image with
fringe conspiracy theorists, gun nuts, survivalists and the like.

Phil