re text of white house announcement and q as on clipper chip encryption the key question is whether non clipper encryption will be made illegal the administration is not saying since encryption threatens the public safety and effective law enforcement we will prohibit it outright as some countries have effectively done nor is the u s saying that every american as a matter of right is entitled to an unbreakable commercial encryption product there is a false tension created in the assessment that this issue is an either or proposition rather both concerns can be and in fact are harmoniously balanced through a reasoned balanced approach such as is proposed with the clipper chip and similar encryption techniques the clear middle ground implied by these statements is to say that americans have the right to clipper encryption but not to unbreakable encryption this implies that ultimately non clipper strong encryption must become illegal as an aside isn t the language here jarring all this talk about harmonious balance when they re talking about taking away people s right to communications privacy although the article emphasizes voice communication data and mail encryption is mentioned as well sophisticated encryption technology has been used for years to protect electronic funds transfer it is now being used to protect electronic mail and computer files the privacy of our citizens including the need to employ voice or data encryption for business purposes it looks like the worst nightmares raised by dorothy denning s proposals are coming true if the government continues on this course i imagine that we will see strong cryptography made illegal encryption programs for disk files and email as well as software to allow for encrypted voice communications will be distributed only through the underground people will have to learn how to hide the fact that they are protecting their privacy it s shocking and frightening to see that this is actually happening here hal finney hal alumni caltech edu
