re would clipper make a good cover for other encryption method in article eachus apr spectre mitre org eachus spectre mitre org robert i eachus writes but if you are making custom equipment in any case why not just roll your own clipper implementation and report the wrong keys to the escrow agency tells us who is going to be in the chip business if this thing goes through nsa and those with something to hide from nsa this won t work if there is a checksum on the keys you don t know about neither will registering a clipper chip and then substituting a counterfeit one if the serial number contains a checksum chances are the government has thought of this and just anyone won t be permitted access to enough of the internals to make a fake clipper chip chances are that the government has classified some details of the internals at a very high level and manufacturers are required to observe security safeguards and clearances corresponding to that level while not perfect it would prevent joe hacker from rolling his own spoofing chip since not many counterfeiters can survive a background investigation some of the more notorious self styled dissidents here for example have already got their heads so high above the tall grass that they d have little chance of getting a clearance of course it s not impossible that someone do this but probably extremely difficult chances are there will also be very heavy criminal penalties for phony clipper chips on some national security classified info grounds or other thus making the game not worth the candle david sternlight great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our information errors and omissions excepted
