Re: Clipper vs. PGP (fwd)

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

Aron Freed writes:

> Since I consider myself new to this whole topic, even though I have read 
> several articles about PGP and CLIPPER, I wanted to get some more info 
> and understanding for my senior seminar next May....  

I think you'll have more than enough time to prepare for a seminar
next May! 

> Does anyone have any opinions on what would happen if the Clipper Chip 
> and its associates were all implemented and the general public swallowed 
> on it?? Would we as knowledgeable computer people become outlaws??? Would 
> be it like 1984?? Would our computer illiterate neighbors try and catch 
> us??? 

Keep reading the list and you'll be able to draw inferences from the
topics discussed here. You posted this question a few days ago, as I
recall, and I assume that the lack of responses then is why you're
posting again.

Understand that people rarely write essays in response to questions
like "Why is Clipper bad?" For most of us, mandatory key escrow is
axiomatically bad; no debate is needed.

> And going the complete opposite direction (a full 180). If the public was 
> able to obtain PGP as easily as we are and they would use it for 
> everything, would that lead to the overthrowing of the government and 
> therefore cause anarchy, due to the fact the governmnet would be helpless 
> in knowing what everyone is doing contrary to the CIA, FBI, etc. being 
> able to read everything we write and say through their current illegal 
> wiretaps???

Yes, strong crypto means all of this. And cats will move in with dogs,
Snapple will rain from the sky, and P will be shown unequal to NP.

Seriously, keep reading the list and you will see many discussions of
this issue. You can't expect to see them within days of joining the
list, for obvious rate reasons, but over the next few months the topic
will come up. More to the point, your growing sophistication with the
issues will allow you to draw your own conclusions, always more
valuable than asking for an opinion poll. (Only political science
people think opinion polls are useful, and I suspect even _they_ know
that polls of the Net are statistically meaningless. But they need to
keep their grant money flowing.)

You'll have plenty of time before next May to learn this stuff. Hell,
between now and next May you may have time to implement a few
remailers, write the code for a data haven, and implement Pretty Good
Quantum Cryptography.


--Tim May


-- 
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Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
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