"Strongly Voluntary" Key Escrow

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 11:18 PM 12/14/95, jim bell wrote:

>I disagree.  The issue is one that might be called "standing."  Who,
>exactly, is responsible to whom in such an arrangement.  Let's suppose key
>escrow (for keys for non-exported encryption devices) is REALLY VOLUNTARY.
>In that case, the escrow agent's only legal  responsibility is to the owner
>of the encryption device.  The government isn't a party to this voluntary
>arrangement, and thus hasn't a complaint if the escrow agent refuses to comply.
>
>I could, for example, enter into a voluntary arrangement with an escrow
>agent so that he would be obligated to erase the key no more nor less than 5
>days after he received it.  If he  did so 1 day after, and I needed the key,
>he would have breached his obligation to ME, but not to the government.
>Likewise, if he failed to erase the key, he would likewise be breaching his
>agreement with me.

I agree with this analysis. When key escrow was being debate in the summer
of '94 here, I called this criterion the basis for a "strongly voluntary"
system. Specifically, that one could have the bit bucket as an "escrow
agent," with of course no retrieval by the government. Or one's lawyer, or
one's spouse, or an offshore bank, and so on.

All of these are "voluntary" key escrow (though I hate that misuse of the
word "escrow") systems. None of them involve government certification, and
there are few circumstances where I think "government certification" is
even useful, let alone necessary.

Any scheme in which the government interjects itself in what would not
normally involve them can hardly be said to be strictly voluntary.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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