re my letter about clipper david reeve sward sward cmu edu writes we don t know this do we the algorithm is classified i speculate from the mykotronx data sheet on the myk that the algorithm is a classified cryptosystem similar in application to des but cleared by the nsa for classified traffic that has been in use for a number of years myktotronx refers to it as government type ii encryption which matches the designation of one of the types of encryption available on stu iii phones and may be the same as a cryptosystem i have heard called cipher this would make sense since this is evidently a field proven cryptosystem which can act as a pin compatible substitute for des combined with a tappable key exchange protocol this would offer exactly what is claimed for clipper secure encryption with access via a key escrow if this is fact the case it would make me quite confident of the encipherment algorithm itself now i do not know if these are in fact the same cryptosystem my knowledge of classified cryptography isn t even fuzzy it s nonexistent however it would certainly have been the least effort approach on the part of the government take an old military cipher that people can drop in place of des and which is at least as secure set up a key escrow scheme for law enforcement and promote it for public use this also fits with mykotronx who s been around but almost invisible for years has anyone else made this sort of connection or am i just hallucinating pink elephants here my curiousity has been piqued amanda walker intercon systems corporation
