[2288] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Greased boa constrictors and crypto hearings
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Tue Mar 17 16:51:35 1998
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 13:17:39 -0800 (PST)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 13:16:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu
Subject: Greased boa constrictors and crypto hearings
*****
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/afternoon/0,1012,1827,00.html
The Netly News / Afternoon Line
March 17, 1998
Take a Left at the Forked Tongue
Arguing with the Clinton administration about encryption is like
wrestling a greased boa constrictor. Not only do you annoy the snake,
but you're likely to be squeezed to death in the struggle. Now the
White House claims it's relaxing its grip. A Justice Department
official said this morning that -- contrary to previous sworn
testimony -- the FBI and the rest of the adminstration don't want to
ban encryption without backdoors for law enforcement after all. "We
are not looking for any mandatory controls domestically at this time,"
Associate Deputy Attorney General Robert Litt said, though he argued
that such a ban would be allowed by the Constitution's Bill of Rights.
Litt was speaking before a Senate subcommittee chaired by
crypto-proponent and presidential hopeful John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), who
asked his witnesses whether domestic encryption restrictions would be
constitutional. Absolutely not, replied Stanford law professor
Kathleen Sullivan, who said "It inverts the world that our framers so
carefully put into place." Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago
law professor, wondered about the proposal's cost to taxpayers if the
government misplaces someone's encryption keys: "How much would be
spent on insurance?" --By Declan McCullagh/Washington
