🚀 go-pugleaf

A friend of mine, Duncan Frissell, lacks Net access at this time and
has asked me to post his message:


Date: 27 Oct 92 21:36:52 EST
From: Duncan Frissell <76630.3577@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Why Encryption will remain legal


1)  Laws punishing encryption punish otherwise legal speech on the basis of
    its content.  First Amendment problems.

2)  Punishment must have some relation to the damage done to society.  The 
    damage done by the encryption of otherwise legal messages is very minor
    so punishments will be very minor.

3)  The volume of traffic presents significant enforcement problems.  

4)  The nature of encrypted data renders proof of criminal activity difficult.
    How do you prove in court that a chunk of data is a message rather than
    random noise (particularly if we intentionally generate noise as military
    cryptosystems do).  Is it an illegal code or a new compression algorithim? 

5)  Passing laws is proving less and less effective in changing behavior.  
    There are probably more illegal aliens working in the US now than before
    the Immigration and Naturalization Control Act of 1986.

6)  International competition has already managed to force the Feds to 
    declassify quite a bit of H-Bomb technology because of its importance in
    hydrogen fusion.  Cryptographic technology is vital for competitive software.
    Banning it when everyone else has it would damage 

7)  Cryptography used to be an arcane specialty understood by only a few people
    on earth.  Computers do nothing but manipulate coded material.  This means 
    that millions of people earn a very good living manipulating codes.  Data
    compression technology, sorting algorithms, etc are all forms of 
    cryptography.  It is hard to keep controls on things that are enormously
    valuable and that many people understand.



Duncan Frissell

-------end of Duncan's message---------








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Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
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