From: paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 10:08:36 -0800 (PST)
To: camcc@abraxis.com
Subject: Re: encrypt_1.html
Message-ID: <858966059.116256.0@fatmans.demon.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> |  The fact that they are pushing key escrow must indicate that
> |someone has developed a program that they can't crack and don't
> |have a back-door to.
> |  I wonder which one it is?

This ignores the basic law of conpiracy theorism: Suspect everyone 
and everything.

I believe the current push to establish key escrow systems, which 
will inevitably lead to enforced domestic GAK in a number of 
countries is possibly a double cross. 

If mandatory GAK is introduced who will be the most likely to ignore 
the legislation and continue using non-GAK crypto? - The anarchists 
and other "terrorist" groups of course. This would seem to suggest 
the govt. is trying to lull these groups into a false sense of 
security believing their non-GAK crypto to be strong. This would in 
turn seem to suggest that the NSA, GCCS etc. have broken a number of 
currently used algorithms that are believed strong by the civilian 
research community.

At the end of the day though this is pure speculation and the spectre 
of GAK still looms over us and must be defeated, however, as 
conspiracy theories go I happen to think it is one of my more 
believable delusions....



  Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security
       Paul Bradley, Paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
  Paul@crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul@cryptography.uk.eu.org    
       Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/
      Email for PGP public key, ID: 5BBFAEB1
     "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"