From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 94 13:38:24 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Disinformation (or the Truth?) About Clipper
In-Reply-To: <9402222100.AA23192@netmail2.microsoft.com>
Message-ID: <199402222138.NAA14229@mail.netcom.com>
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How should Clipper be sabotaged and spoken against?

Blanc Weber asks:

> Would you elaborate?  Earlier, Tim May said something about using "the 
> active spreading of
> disinformation about the compromise of the key escrow system" as part 
> of the attempt to "Actively Sabotage Clipper and Capstone" (title of 
> his message).
> 
> What sort of public speeches would you (or others) make (to whom)?
> (Just curious)

Briefly, "Tell X to Y," where X and Y are the following:

Tell them X:

- Clipper is a wiretapping system

- Clipper has more than one back door

- Clipper keys have already been compromised by non-government
entities

- Clipper is for spying on foreign-based corporations

- Clipper will be used to monitor corporations

- Clipper chip makers (Mykotronx, VLSI Tech, National, etc.) have had
their security systems breached

- Clipper is Big Brother

Tell this to Y:

- your friends and your family...I tell everyone I meet (nearly) what
a frightening and ludicrous thing the Clipper/Skipjack/Tessera systems
is. (And I say the same thing about the "Information Data
Superhighway" boondoggle.)

- journalists (e.g., I informed John Markoff of some of these things,
which he mostly knew about--he knows more than I do!-- and the
strategy of disinformation and sabotage....it made it into his Sunday
article...and I'm talking to two other journalists now)

(I'm honest with journalists: I tell them upfront that a
disinformation/sabotage campaign is underway and that they should thus
take anything I say, or anyone else says, in this light. They're
usually very bright and see these things anyway, so this clears the
air. It is not a contradiction to tell them that a
disinformation/sabotage campaign is underway and then to tell them
about reports the Clipper chip manufacturers have had security
compromises. And other such things.)

- corporations...point out to them that Clipper isn't a real
improvement, that it opens them up to casual monitoring by the tax and
other authorities, and that their competitors will be able to buy the
keys on the black market in not too long a time

- radio call-in shows and the like. I called Dave Emory's show a while
back and spoke against Clipper and the NSA. Dave Mandl interviewed me
over a year ago for his radio show in New York. And I may be on a
Santa Cruz radio show soon. John Gilmore and Eric Hughes, of course,
have also been on radio and t.v. shows.

(Don't be afraid to call Christian Right stations, either. You may not
like all of their policies--I know I don't--but they're very paranoid
government tracking, national identity cards, and 666-style numbers
attached to them. The "700 Club" has come out staunchly against Clipper.)

- foreigners...I get a real rise our of my overseas friends when I
tell them what the National Security Agency has planned for them.

(By the way, I've seen little discussion here of the fact that the
Germans, French, and NATO nations in general seem to be signing on for
some version of the Clipper system. I can provided details if there's
interest. In all the debate a few weeks ago about whether Germany is
more or less free than America, it was left out that Germany is about
to roll back certain Constitutional freedoms and explicity allow more
surveillance. We should not be pushing our German or European list
members (a la Hadmut Danisch) into defending their countries--rather,
they need to fight the fight as well. In fact, more Cypherpunks need
to be recruited in Europe, which shows many signs of slipping back
into a Surveillance State, with barely a whimper of public outcry.)


--Tim May

-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."