organized lobbying for cryptography in article apr silverton berkeley edu djb silverton berkeley edu d j bernstein writes i want to see an organization which will combat such statements encryption does not threaten the public safety any more than ski masks do every american is entitled to use strong encryption which ensures his own privacy and is not crippled by a key escrow system i guess i m looking for a league for cryptographic freedom or a national cryptography association an excellent idea to what extent does the eff serve this purpose is a new organization necessary does it already exist while i don t know the full scope of the activities of the eff from what little i ve seen i think it would be better to lobby for strong cryptography through a distinct organization the eff has been associated with efforts to prevent the banning of sex and pictures newsgroups at various universities horror stories about the contents of those groups e g exploitative pictures of possibly underaged models have already surfaced in the press the white house bulletin already raised the specter of drug dealing and terrorism which is only one step removed from the old crypto wielding child molester argument an eff lobbying effort for cryptography would be too easily derailed by the connection to child pornography and the like similarly lpf is connected with stallman and his gnu project in light of say the gnu manifesto this means that in a public debate it stands to be labelled as communist anarchist hackers radical etc i don t know about cpsr but if it is an offshoot of physicians for social responsibility best known for helen caldicott and her hysterical antinuclear lobbying then it probably also carries unwelcome political baggage perhaps for practical reasons a lobbying organization for cryptography would best be formed under the umbrella of eff or some other existing group but its charter should then be distinct independent and limited to advocacy for the right to cryptography to reiterate dan bernstein s question does any suitable organization exist if not what are you going to do about it having mentioned the possible dangers of unwelcome political associations i would be remiss not to suggest something in the opposite direction gathering the support of the nra by emphasizing the rkba side of the issue as well as the first amendment side tal kubo math harvard edu
