DTB a lock RE: EFF sells out

["Pat Farrell" <pfarrell@netcom.com>]

The EFF's justification/analyis of DTB says:
> Today Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Don Edwards
> (D-CA) introduced their version of Digital Telephony legislation.
> Since 1992, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been successful
> at stopping a series of FBI Digital Telephony proposals, which
> would have forced communications companies to install wiretap
> capability into every communications medium.  However, earlier this
> year, Senator Leahy and Rep. Edwards, who have helped to quash
> previous FBI proposals, concluded that the passage of such a bill
> was inevitable this year.  To head off passage of the FBI's bill,
> Leahy and Edwards stepped in to draft a narrow bill, and asked for
> EFF's help in the process.  EFF remains deeply troubled by the
> prospect of the federal government forcing communications networks
> to be made "wiretap ready," but we believe that the legislation
> introduced today is substantially less intrusive that the original
> FBI proposals.
>
> "Although we do not support the concept of digital telephony
> legislation, we believe that if Congress is to pass any version of
> the bill this year, it should be along the lines of the
> Leahy/Edwards version," said Berman.

On the Hill yesterday, Don Edwards (D-CA) and house side sponsor of the bill
said that without Jerry's help, there would be no bill. (Someone
at EPIC or EFF should have the exact quote wording, but I've got the
meaning here.)

If they are against it, why are they crafting and creating it?

But this is straying from the creed. I'm off to try Phil's DES code
under MS's 32 bit C++ compiler.

Pat

Pat Farrell      Grad Student                 pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu
Department of Computer Science    George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Public key availble via finger          #include <standard.disclaimer>