🚀 go-pugleaf

Dorothy Denning asks us to consider the following question:

>Do we really want a society where electronic communications cannot
>ever be broken when there is good reason to believe some major threat
>against society is being planned?

I suppose that she asks it sincerely, as though it were relevant.  

Of course it is not.  For better or worse, we already live in such a 
world.  There is absolutely nothing in the proposals of the government
or Dr. Denning that will change that. 

The question is do those of good will surrender the right to private
communications in the name of a futile attempt to prevent those of ill
will from having them?  Even if it would work, I would answer no.  Given 
that it will not work, it is so silly that one wonders why it is raised
at all.  Is it any wonder that one is made suspicious of the intentions
of those that would make such proposals?  Even if the FBI were free from
their record of abuse, I would still be suspicious of their motives.

I suspect that Dr. Denning is misled by the goodwill of the people with
whom she works.  While I respect the integrity of the individual members 
of the FBI and NSA with whom I work, my experience tells me that it is 
not sufficient to protect me from the inertia and momentum of the 
institutions.  The direction of these is at least oblique to the 
intention of my friends that make them up.

I stand with Perry Metzger.  They can have my RSA key when they remove
it from my gold tooth (where I plan to put it as soon as the technology
permits.  In the meantime, they will play hell finding it (them)).

William Hugh Murray, Executive Consultant, Information System Security
49 Locust Avenue, Suite 104, New Canaan, Connecticut 06840                
203 966 4769, WHMurray at DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL