Clipper (Tessera, to be exact) laptops already being made

[Stanton McCandlish <mech@eff.org>]

NOTICE:  Tessera PCMCIA card laptops are already being
manufactured, as of at least one week ago.  

For those new to the issue, the Tessera is an encryption device for
PCMCIA-capable notebook computers, being a cartridge bearing a hardware
encryption chip.  The chip is based on the Skipjack algorithm, just like
the Clipper chip (for phones), and it too features so-called "key escrow"
(key surrender, to police/intelligence agencies). 

See ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Issues/Crypto/ and subdirectories thereof for
more inforation.  Or call the EFF BBS at +1 202 638 6120 (N81) and look
in the "Privacy--Clipper" file area. 

I spoke 2 days ago, informally, with a friend who works for a PC
manufacturer.  He told me he was thinking of quitting, and was looking
for a new job.  He was asked by his employer to help resolve a technical
problem for a customer.  The customer turned out to be none other than
the NSA, and the problem product was a notebook PC manufactured by this
company.  Specifically, there was a serious design flaw that rendered it
incompatible with the Tessera cards they were installing in the laptops.

This "batch" were being made for internal NSA use, not commercial
distribution, and it appears that the NSA will go looking elsewhere unless
this bug can be fixed, so Tessera deployment is temporarily stalled.

I have no reason to doubt this information, and believe it to be genuine.


All this aside, I personally couldn't give a hoot whether the superspooks
cripple their own security.  However, this is yet another indication that
Executive branch agencies are ready and willing to deploy Skipjack-derived
product, and are unlikely to give it up w/o even more of a fight.

-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994