From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 20:07:04 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Gore's "new and improved" key escrow proposal
In-Reply-To: <9407230412.AA11150@toxicwaste.media.mit.edu>
Message-ID: <9407250131.AA10250@snark.imsi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



This area of research has been explored by Matt Blaze in some detail
-- he's done some "good" key escrow systems for just the case of "your
chief programmer is hit by a bus." However, let us never confuse
voluntary key management techniques used in an organization with
mandatory national key escrow big-brotherism.

Perry


Derek Atkins says:
> > I have tried to think of a positive use for key escrow.  The only
> > thing that I have come up with so far is kind of like having local key
> > escrow within one company, or something like that.  Kind of like
> > having a master key that fits all the offices in one wing of a
> > building, or something like that.  That could be good in some business
> > uses, provided you could pick your own trusted master key holder.  I
> > don't think that is what Al Gore has in mind.
> 
> Actually, I can think of one major use.  If I encrypt my personal
> files, I might want my heirs to be able to recover them after my
> death.  For example, I might keep my electronically-encrypted will in
> escrow, such that upon my death the keys can be obtained and the
> document opened.