🚀 go-pugleaf

Pat Farrell says:
"Until integrated software is widely available, and the legal
usage issues resolved, RSA will remain at best a niche
product. It is possible that this will not be resolved before
the PKP patents expire."

That's 1997. I'm curious. Do people think a Democratic administration
and Congress would support or oppose key registration? What's the
historical track record on similar issues?

If the Democrats obtain a second term, absent new laws, unrestricted
use of public key systems without PKP's legal interference will
be possible at that time. Who knows, by then personal computers may
even be fast enough to permit full RSA use, rather than RSA key encryption
of DES/IDEA messages. In any case, the issue would need to be confronted
by both intelligence and law enforcement.

I predict that unless a key registration law is "sneaked in" there's
going to be a bitter public battle over this issue during the current
Clinton administration. Hone your arguments and your
intervention/lobbying/testimony techniques now, whatever side of this
you're on.

-- 
David Sternlight
(pgp 2.0 and ripem public keys available on request)