From: amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker)
Subject: Re: Secret algorithm [Re: Clipper Chip and crypto key-escrow]
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation - Herndon, VA  USA
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Distribution: world
Reply-To: amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker)
NNTP-Posting-Host: chaos.intercon.com
Keywords: encryption, wiretap, clipper, key-escrow, Mykotronx
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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.

It would be stupid to rely on even a "Clipperized" channel for truly 
sensitive material, but it *does* seem to finally offer a reasonable way to 
guard against casual eavesdropping.  For example, even with my strong "right 
to bear arms" view of the private right to possess and use strong 
cryptosystems, the system as described provides enough security that I would 
actually buy a cordless phone, and would be much less wary of using cellular 
phones, walkie-talkies, and so on.  As long as it's only used for mass-market 
voice scrambling, I actually don't see a problem with it.

If you want more security than it offers, use something different.  Use PKCS 
for electronic mail, CELP over DES or triple DES with Diffie-Hellman key 
exchange for your voice traffic, or whatever.

And yes, I'd rather just see all crypto restrictions lifted, but this is at 
least an incrememental improvement for certain applications...


Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation


