re secret algorithm re clipper chip and crypto key escrow pmetzger snark shearson com perry e metzger writes 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 i understand believe it or not and there are any number of kinds of conversation and communication i engage in that i wouldn t even consider using this scheme for on the other hand i don t see clipper as providing a secure channel it just prevents casual eavesdropping this is part of why i am not worried about it per se trying to look at clipper as a serious security tool is simply ludicrous it s a voice scrambler nothing more there is still plenty of market for real crypto 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 they cost an arm and a leg though clipper is obviously aimed at the mass market it certainly won t put cylink out of business 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 this is old news i can do this now there are no crypto restrictions yet you can use anything you want right now the point is to maintain that right there are restrictions example we re a networking software vendor with a large overseas share of our market we cannot currently ship pem or even simple des in our products without case by case approval from the department of state itar presents a material trade barrier to us firms trying to compete in international information systems markets sure you can use whatever freebie software you want to talk over bbs s in the usa i on the other hand want strong crypto pkcs for example to be the default for electronic mail worldwide i want priests to be able to hear confession over email i want lawyers to be able to talk to clients in confidence over email or doctors talk with patients i want to be able to order products from my favorite japanese mail order catalog over the net i want to be able to sign contracts transact business and so on electronically this is so far infeasible as a result of the current restrictions on crytographic systems especially beyond the borders of the usa clipper is irrelevant and if it distracts the authorities into feeling safe all the better its only danger is if it emboldens them into trying to put more restrictions into place on the theory that it is good enough for anyone who has nothing to hide that argument is of course utter bs just as much as no one needs an assault rifle amanda walker intercon systems corporation
