[2299] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Reno pushes for crypto-backdoors, gives two-month deadline
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Thu Mar 19 16:52:03 1998
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 13:28:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/afternoon/0,1012,1832,00.html
The Netly News / Afternoon Line
March 19, 1998
McGruff Trade
Janet Reno is nothing if not determined. This morning the bulldog
attorney general renewed her call for high tech firms to "work
together" with government and sell only data-scrambling encryption
software with backdoors for police. The feds want "to make sure that
the technology, as used, complies with the Constitution," she said.
Reno complained that until recently corporations have been
uncooperative in yielding to law enforcement demands "and that's the
reason I'm trying to be involved as much as I possibly can."
Negotiations over how much privacy Americans are allowed to enjoy
"will continue for the next 60 days or so," she said. Left unsaid,
however, was what happens if discussions break down. Reno also said
that a "working group" inside the Justice Department is crafting a
handbook on how to bust hackers without, presumably, violating the
Bill of Rights. They're not ready yet, though: "I would not say we are
close yet to issuing guidelines." --By Declan McCullagh/Washington
