Re: Infomercial, Clipper

[tomh@bambi.ccs.fau.edu (Tom Holroyd)]

>Tom Holroyd says:
>> Most people couldn't care less.  They don't encrypt data, and will
>> never use a clipperphone.  The FBI can *already* listen to all their
>> phone calls and see all their medical records.  Why should people
>> do anything to protect something they don't have anyway?

Perry says:
>I disagree that secure phones don't have an extensive market. If they were
>cheap enough, people would want the feature just for the hell of it.  I'd
>say that most people would pick up a cryptophone if it only costs a couple
>bucks more and is transparent to use.

And if the FBI could listen in, it would be *no different* from what
they have today.  The point is, Clipper does not take anything away
from most people.  They might get a Clipperphone if they thought the
building superintendant was hiding in the phone closet listening in
(thus getting some real value from the thing), but they aren't hiding from
the FBI today, and they won't care if the FBI might listen in tomorrow, too.

Note that I'm not saying that Clipper isn't the tip of an iceberg giving
the spooks bigbrother-like powers.  All I'm saying is, you won't be able to
convince Joe Public that he's losing anything.

If they start arresting people for using PGP, that's another problem,
and Joe Public won't care about that, either.