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Started by Una Smith
Mon, 28 Feb 1994 02:24
Clipper: Should US govt read your mail?
Author: Una Smith
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 02:24
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 02:24
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The Clipper proposal is a scheme whereby the only legal form of
encryption for maintaining the privacy of data transmissions in
the United States would include a special "key", held by the US
federal government, to be used by it to invade your privacy. It
is a powerful and important proposal, and deserves the fullest
possible public consideration. Below, I've included a mailing
from the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, a well-
respected organization, inviting "signatories" to a petition
against the Clipper proposal. Please consider signing, and send
this on to others who may be concerned.
Una Smith smith-una@yale.edu
Sender: Dave Banisar <banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
Subject: Clipper Petition
Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper
Please Distribute Widely
On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography
and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to
withdraw the Clipper proposal.
The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable,
including coverage in the New York Times and numerous computer and
security trade magazines.
Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the
letter. In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an
Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will
deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the
names of all the people who oppose Clipper.
To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
their opposition to the Clipper proposal.
CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization. For
membership information, please email cpsr@cpsr.org. For more
information about Clipper, please consult the CPSR Internet Library -
FTP/WAIS/Gopher CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper
=====================================================================
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption
proposal now under consideration by the White House. We wish to
express our concern about this plan and similar technical standards
that may be proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure.
The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies
primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy
protection. Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus
beyond public review.
The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous
opposition to Clipper. In the formal request for comments conducted
by the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of
respondents supported the plan. Several hundred opposed it.
If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop
new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers
who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be
discouraged. Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology
will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations
unfulfilled.
Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis
and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable. The
government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and
the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small. Few
in the user community believe that the proposal would be truly
voluntary.
The Clipper proposal should not be adopted. We believe that if
this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a
voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation
will be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the
openness necessary to ensure the successful development of the
nation's communications infrastructure will be threatened.
We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper
proposal.
--------------- end of CPSR letter to the White House --------------
--
Una Smith smith-una@yale.edu
Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8104 USA
Re: Clipper: Should US govt read your mail?
Author: Howard Cash
Date: Tue, 01 Mar 1994 20:17
Date: Tue, 01 Mar 1994 20:17
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Una, while I strongly agree that the clipper standard is an inappropriate and dangerous use of technology to diminish personal privacy, I think that your characterization is incorrect. There is no proposal (not yet, at least) to make clipper "the only legal form of encryption." Rather the clipper chip may come "standard" with all computers, making it the encryption method of choice for those who do not recognize the inherent danger of having data decrypted by a third party. If the clipper chip turns up on every PC and Macintosh, it will not be very attractive for commercial software companies to create alternative encryption schemes, but that's a far cry from saying that alternate schemes will be illegal. -Hobie
Re: Clipper: Should US govt read your mail?
Author: S. A. Modena
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 1994 22:16
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 1994 22:16
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In article <2l07s2$sak@lastactionhero.rs.itd.umich.edu> cash@geneva.csmil.umich.edu (Howard Cash) writes: >Una, while I strongly agree that the clipper standard is an inappropriate >and dangerous use of technology to diminish personal privacy, I think that >your characterization is incorrect. There is no proposal (not yet, at >least) to make clipper "the only legal form of encryption." Rather the >clipper chip may come "standard" with all computers, making it the >encryption method of choice for those who do not recognize the inherent >danger of having data decrypted by a third party. If the clipper chip >turns up on every PC and Macintosh, it will not be very attractive for >commercial software companies to create alternative encryption schemes, >but that's a far cry from saying that alternate schemes will be illegal. > >-Hobie > I guess I missed Una's posting...but as I understand the Clipper matter, from readings in InfoWorld, Circuit Cellar INK, Dr. Dobb's Journal, and PC Techniques...the purpose of the Clipper Standard will to make it's encryption key system the *only* legal encryption system. Why? So that the National Security Agency will (continue to) be able to read ALL electronic communications that impinge on the U.S.A. in any way. Not everyone is necessarily agreeable. In a similar vein, the Executive Branch has repeatedly petitioned Congress to enact a law *mandating* that any telecommunication switching equipment (especially telephone switches) have build in facility for various Gov't agencies to install wiretap...because today's technology has been a real hindrance to legal and illegal Gov't surveillance of *you*. :^) Is it of importance to biologists: well, it's one sure way to monitor what your research progress really is...and with whom you are communicating, in detail. Are all areas of apparently "open" biological research above interest to national security agencies? Is it only math and physics that have strategic value? Steve Modena nmodena@unity.ncsu.edu
Re: Clipper: Should US govt read your mail?
Author: Mike Cherry
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 1994 05:01
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 1994 05:01
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In article <1994Mar2.221615.10246@ncsu.edu>, S. A. Modena <samodena@csemail.cropsci.ncsu.edu> wrote: >In article <2l07s2$sak@lastactionhero.rs.itd.umich.edu> cash@geneva.csmil.umich.edu (Howard Cash) writes: >>Una, while I strongly agree that the clipper standard is an inappropriate >>and dangerous use of technology to diminish personal privacy, I think that >>your characterization is incorrect. There is no proposal (not yet, at >>least) to make clipper "the only legal form of encryption." Rather the >>clipper chip may come "standard" with all computers, making it the >>encryption method of choice for those who do not recognize the inherent >>danger of having data decrypted by a third party. If the clipper chip >>turns up on every PC and Macintosh, it will not be very attractive for >>commercial software companies to create alternative encryption schemes, >>but that's a far cry from saying that alternate schemes will be illegal. >> >>-Hobie >> > >I guess I missed Una's posting...but as I understand the Clipper matter, >from readings in InfoWorld, Circuit Cellar INK, Dr. Dobb's Journal, >and PC Techniques...the purpose of the Clipper Standard will to >make it's encryption key system the *only* legal encryption system. My understanding is that it will be the only legal encryption for the US government and thus be required in all US government purchases. It will not be the only encryption for all computers or users. Presumably this will end up the same any number of other "standards" that the US government has stated for computers and software. No one trusts the "government" enough to let the clipper standard be used. Plus there are several encryption methods that are available through sources from around the world. There is no way to enforce the use of a clipper standard. Plus there are an enormous number of multi-national corporations that will not use clipper for any number of obvious reasons. Mike -- J. Michael Cherry Internet: cherry@genome.stanford.edu Project Manager Saccharomyces Genome Database Stanford DNA Sequence & Tech. Center Department of Genetics Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA 94305-5120
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