Re: As I delurk, a question... (Clipper)

[Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>]

C'punks,

On Mon, 13 Jun 1994, Sidney Markowitz wrote:

> . . .
> As I read the official pronouncements of representatives of the U.S.
> government and especially the NSA, I can't figure out what they do hope to
> achieve. Can anyone else on this list make sense of it?

Remember the instructions for cooking a live frog.  The government does 
not intend to stop until they have effectively eliminated your privacy.

STEP 1:  Clipper becomes the de facto encryption standard.

STEP 2:  When Cypherpunks and other "criminals" eschew Clipper in favor
	 of trusted strong crypto, the government is "forced" to ban 
	 non-escrowed encryption systems.  (Gotta catch those pedophiles, 
	 drug dealers and terrorists, after all.)

STEP 3:  When Cypherpunks and other criminals use superencryption with 
	 Clipper or spoof LEAFs, the government will regretably be forced 
	 to engage in random message monitoring to detect these illegal 
	 techniques.

Each of these steps will be taken because we wouldn't passively accept 
such things as unrestricted wiretaps and reasonable precautions like 
digital telephony.  It will portrayed as our fault.  Count on it.

Will such a scenario come about?  Yes, if the government has its way.  No,
if Cypherpunks do their job.  I know the government will do its damnest,
but I'm betting on the Cypherpunks.  It's only us against all the
governments of the world.  (They haven't got a chance!)


 S a n d y