Can Feds be Sued for Clipper Delays and Redesign Costs?

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

> 
> Enormous investment has already been made. Furthermore, the EES design
> has provisions in the processor for only a 128 bit LEAF. Its hardly
> clear that they can just "patch" this in a few weeks.
> 

> Perry

I wonder if companies and individuals out there can seek damages for
the costs and delays of having to redesign systems? Assuming EES gets
redesigned, companies ranging from AT&T to MIPS to Tim's Clipjack
Consulting will presumably face product introduction delays, redesign
efforts, etc.

I know suing the government is generally hard, so this may be futile.

But the redesign costs and delays may certainly piss off a lot of
folks. AT&T has several camps opposed to EES (as we all know, from the
comments of Blaze, Stewart, Bellovin, and others) and some camps
supporting EES (AT&T Surety Systems, North Carolina, etc.), but this
latest black eye may certainly tilt things further against the EES.

And what happens if folks who've already _bought_ Clipper phones are
not able to use them to communicate? What happens to the chips already
shipped?

It seems the Feds lose any way you cut it. If EES goes out as
presently designed, workarounds will proliferate (not that EES ever
looked like an especially economical scheme--costs were high). If EES
gets replaced by EES II, delays and costs will mount. And so will bad
will.

I'm overjoyed.

--Tim May


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