re secret algorithm re clipper chip and crypto key escrow begin pgp signed message in article pmetzger apr snark shearson com pmetzger snark shearson com perry e metzger writes in article qnupd jpm news intercon com amanda intercon com amanda walker writes from amanda intercon com amanda walker jhesse netcom com john hesse writes oh great wonderful news nobody can listen in except the feds hey it s better than the status quo i am far less worried about the feds tapping my phone than high school scanner surfers who get their kicks out of eavesdropping on cellular and cordless phone calls i m a political dissident i m scared shitless of the feds listening in on my calls my opinions are the sort that would get me disappeared in a slightly less free society and who knows what sort of society we will be in in five or ten years i have friends who have had their phones tapped none of this is theoretical to me as for its better than the status quo well first of all you can get a cryptophone from companies like cylink today and they work well in addition a number of groups are now working on building software to turn any pc into a privacy enhanced phone right now and they are all working in overdrive mode and yes i d rather just see all crypto restrictions lifted but this is at least an incrememental improvement for certain applications there are no crypto restrictions yet you can use anything you want right now the point is to maintain that right the point you all seem to have missed was covered when the uk cellphone scrambling system was discussed incidentally my mp has responded to my questions on that issue and it appears that the uk and other approved countries will get the secure a encryption and dodgy countries will get a x existing mobile equipment will drop to clear mode when used with a x systems but newer equipment will use a a x clear depending on the capabilities of the base station the cops feds do not need to be able to get hold of your private key to listen in to cellular conversations encryption is not end to end but cellphone to base station it has to be this way so that cellular users and fixed installations can talk to each other for cellular to cellular calls the transmission is decrypted at the base station passed to another base station and re encrypted the cops feds can listen to the unscrambled call provided they get a warrant to tap into the cellular provider s equipment the only reason for wanting a crackable system is so they can listen without having to obtain a warrant but maybe the clipper system is secure and they really do need a warrant to get the key out of escrow before they can listen in using a scanner see above they don t have to go down this route anyway i have my doubts but even if true once they have the key they will never again need a warrant to tap into that particular phone whenever they want well judge it appears he wasn t a drug dealer after all so naturally we ll stop listening in you have every reason to be scared shitless take a look at the records of mccarthy hoover j edgar not the cleaner though they both excelled at sucking and nixon paul
