Re: Clipper trapdoor?

[peb@PROCASE.COM (Paul Baclace)]

>Note that neither Title III (law enforcement) nor FISA (U.S.-based) apply
>to this situation, [...]
>I have to conclude that NSA would not be putting
>this technology out into the world *unless* it did, in fact, have some way
>to decrypt messages *without* access to the escrow keys.

Which is why they probably already have a draft for a bill to get escrowed 
keys without a warrant for national security reasons.  They would want 
the whole escrow process set up before they announce this, of course.
If they can't get this kind of bill passed, then they probably will not 
approve the technology for export.

Alternatively, the escrow process may be written with specific wording
that it applies only to US citizens leaving a convenient escrow process
trap-door.  This makes the Privacy Clipper difficult to sell overseas,
but specially made chips for export might be compromised anyway with 
weak random seeds.


Paul E. Baclace
peb@procase.com