A public alternative to clipper?

[an62213@anon.penet.fi (I wish I knew!)]

> 	Also, the development of clipper was done with tax dollars.
> The government has no need to recoup its investment in developing the
> chip.  Therefore, they can sell the chips at the cost of
> manufacturing, and forget the R&D.  That ability to ignore the bottom
> line is a pretty powerful mechanism.  If a clipper phone costs $100
> less than the alternative, because we the taxpayers already paid for
> it, Clipper becomes more and more the only choice.

Well, then.  Maybe it's time to develop our own PGP chip.  Would the
PGP routines fit in a large PGA?  What's the smallest, cheapest alternative
we can come up with?  If we give away the PGA code freely, that would
help reduce the cost of inclusion in a commercial product.  An FPGA would 
give the user the ability to change keys with little trouble.  Upgrading
is as easy as swapping a prom.  (Better yet have an onboard programmer.)

Even then, I would guess that a lot of people would have to pay a bit more
for secure communications.  I think it's worth it.

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