From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 05:29:43 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: "I have in my hand a working message recovery system"
In-Reply-To: <199710271900.OAA26708@beast.brainlink.com>
Message-ID: <v03102809b07aa62a7746@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




(I've changed the thread name to "I have in my hand a working message
recovery system." Some of you may know what this is a reference to.)

At 12:47 PM -0700 10/27/97, Eli Brandt wrote:
>Declan McCullagh wrote:
>> >From my perch in Washington, I see PGP 5.5/CMR as an existence proof that
>> key recovery can be done. So far the crypto-advocates have been able to
>> wave around the Blaze et al white paper that says we don't know how to do
>> it. Even Dorothy Denning agreed. But now when a mandatory GAK bill goes to
>> the House floor, all Rep. Solomon etc. have to do is wave around a
>> shrinkwrapped copy of PGP and say: "I bought this for $19 at the Egghead
>> shop at 21st and L." Details will be lost in the fearmongering.
>
>Key detail lost: what the white paper says is that we don't know how
>to do it *right*.

Agreed, but this is just the kind of "detail" Congress is already so good
at ignoring.

Declan is right, that Congress will hold PGP 5.5 and its CMR and "Policy
Manager" up and will say, "See, even industry is demanding message
recovery. And here's a program that already does it."

Granted, CMR will not meet FBI requirements for real-time access, and will
not meet SIGIN/COMINT wishes for surveillance-friendly systems, but it's a
start.

I'll bet, as I said in a post a few hours ago, that if CMR is widely
adopted, that various regulatory agencies like the FTC, SEC, OSHA, etc.,
will begin to impose rules about how and where CMR archives are stored....

Then the battle will be 80% over.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."