From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 13:54:44 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Your "RIGHT" to Speak to Big Brother
In-Reply-To: <199710210313.WAA01353@wire.insync.net>
Message-ID: <v03102802b071f07a3e09@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 8:13 PM -0700 10/20/97, Eric Cordian wrote:

>This was made clearer when The Bitch of Waco introduced her
>minion, Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein.
>
>    "We're asking the court to order Microsoft to tell
>     everyone who has signed or who in the future will sign
>     a non- disclosure agreement, that it doesn't apply to
>     the government, period. We won't allow anyone to
>     interfere with the people's right to provide
>     information to their government."

You left out the Really Interesting paragraph:

"We're also asking loyal Americans within companies to send us the CMR
secret keys. Companies have no right to keep secrets from government. We
won't allow a company to have policies which prevent loyal Americans from
providing information to their government."


(He didn't say this, but he may as well have. What the Justice Department
is arguing is that it wants spies within companies. It wants narcs. It
wants people to funnel information to them.)

By the way, I think the notion that the government will go to great lengths
to get CMR secret keys is not far-fetched. Until PGP for Business supports
a richer system of snoopware keys--and my understanding is that PGP 5.5
does _not_--then the CMR secret key of, say, Microsoft, would be a prize
indeed.

This is of course a security weakness of the whole CMR approach, exactly as
with the key escrow database. It is a too-tempting target. Anyone within a
company with access to the CMR secret key will be incentivized to sell it.

I am offering $25,000 for the CMR key for Microsoft. (As a loyal American,
I plan to then send it to Janet Reno and Louis Freeh.)

Of course, Microsoft won't be using PGP for Business. Recall that they may
have their own "software key escrow" program cooking, based on my
discussion a few years ago with Tom Albertson (sp?) of Microsoft. Bill
Gates has issued strongly anti-GAK statements, so maybe this is on hold.

--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."