From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@polaris.mindport.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 95 14:27:18 PDT
To: Jim Gillogly <jim@acm.org>
Subject: Re: My chat with Goeff Greiveldinger
In-Reply-To: <199510152027.NAA23085@mycroft.rand.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951015171748.22497A-100000@polaris.mindport.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Sun, 15 Oct 1995, Jim Gillogly wrote:

> 
> > Michael Froomkin <froomkin@law.miami.edu> writes:
> > I will be appearing with  Goeff Greiveldinger, he of the Justice Dept, at 
> > a discussion of commercial key escrow next Thursday in Bethesda.  Anyone 
> > with fun questions I should throw at him should contact me...
> 
> > Please note that the ostensible topic of this discussion is *commerical* 
> > key escrow, not Clipper per se, so I have to be diplomatic....
> 
> You might try addressing the areas of liability for escrow agents.  If
> private escrow agents can be sued for loss of information due to theft
> or other authorized or unauthorized release of keys, their liability could
> be horrendous, depending on the value of the compromised data. Gillogly
> Software certainly will not be a commercial keyholder!
> 
> 	Jim Gillogly
> 	24 Winterfilth S.R. 1995, 20:20
> 


You also might point out that commercial escrow is in a way MORE prone to 
compromise because it effectively doubles the number of entities entitled 
to demand release of the keys.

Instead of JUST government, you now have to face the possibility of key 
forfeiture by BOTH government and the commercial escrow agent, the escrow 
agent being, as it is, subject to the whim of governmental coercion to 
release keys as well as the agent's own reasons for doing so.

Effectively the potential for misuse is increased by virtue of the 
increased numbers of officals (commercial and public) who have access to 
the material.

I would like to hear the answer to this dilemna, which I am sure will 
include something about commercial key escrow easing the perceptions of 
the public, to which the obvious response will be, "Then this is a 
public relations move to avoid the perception of potential government abuse 
and a move which infact increases the level of risk, is that right?"

Perhaps I should attend.  Where and when is this precisely?

---
"In fact, had Bancroft not existed,       potestas scientiae in usu est
Franklin might have had to invent him."    in nihilum nil posse reverti
00B9289C28DC0E55  E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information