Re: Clinton nixes domestic encryption right

[Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>]

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Date:         Thu, 3 Jul 1997 17:10:46 -0400
Reply-To:     Law & Policy of Computer Communications
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Sender:       Law & Policy of Computer Communications
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From:         "Tom W. Bell" <tbell@CATO.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Clinton nixes domestic encryption right
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Phill writes:

>Stuart Baker claims that Gore is the main administration supporter of GAK.
>But others have claimed the exact opposite. I suspect that if Gore really
>supported the GAK idea he would do so publically and explicitly, its a vote
>winner.

For what it's worth, I had dinner Monday with two people from Gore's office
and one of Microsoft's officers.  The Gore people consistently demanded
mandatory key escrow, though they seemed willing to allow private parties to
do the job so long as GAK remained an option.  The Microsoft person only
went so far as to offer to always make key escrow a *feature*, arguing that
this would in practice get the administration all the GAK it wants because
almost everyone would want to escrow their private keys.

The debate unfolded something like this:

Gore people:  "People using really strong encryption will *want* to escrow
their keys.  Otherwise, lost keys will result in irretrievably lost data."

MS person:  "Oh, sure--especially commerical players.  But you underestimate
the amount of resistance *mandated* escrowing will create.  People want to
*choose* to escrow.  If you let them, they will."

Gore people:  "Well, if they're going to escrow anyhow, what's the problem
with mandating it?"

MS person:  "You don't get it.  Our customers care deeply about their
encryption rights, and we want happy customers.  If the administration will
just back off, it will get what it wants--or, at least, as much as it can at
any rate expect."

It presented a classic case of cultural conflict--in this case, political
cultural confronting commercial culture.

Tom W. Bell
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tbell@cato.org
Director, Telecommunications and Technology Studies
The Cato Institute

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Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
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