Subject: NEWS STORY: Clipper chip OK'd by gov't

From: [email-masked] (Korey J. Kruse)
Date: 11 Feb 1994 17:53:13 -0600

Here's an article that I am reprinting for general information purposes.
It appeared in the LA Times paper on Sat, Feb 5, 1994

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HEADLINE: FBI, NSA Win Fight for High-Tech Eavesdropping Communications: White House ruling gives agencies continued access
Publication Date: Saturday February 5, 1994
BYLINE: JOHN MINTZ JOHN SCHWARTZ

The Clinton Administration on Friday rejected the arguments of the
computer industry and civil libertarians and sided with national security
agencies that sought to guarantee their ability to intercept and decode
messages sent over computer and telephone lines.

   The White House had agreed to review initiatives begun during the
George Bush Administration--and pursued under President Clinton--that
favored the FBI and the National Security Agency in their efforts to
ensure that the agencies can continue to read and listen to
communications despite rapidly evolving encryption technologies.

   The Commerce Department announced Friday that a nine-month review of
the issue--which has set off impassioned disputes between high-technology
industries and the government--had resulted in a decision to make no
major policy changes.

   That means the Administration will continue longstanding restrictions
on exports of powerful encryption devices that the NSA cannot crack, and
continue to encourage use of NSA-developed encryption gear, called the
"Clipper Chip," by all U.S. firms. The Clipper Chip makes it relatively
easy for the government to eavesdrop on encrypted communications.

   Administration officials said that the "keys" to unlock messages would
be held by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
Treasury Department. Police agencies obtaining court authority to wiretap
will go to those agencies to acquire the two-part key.

   Taken together, the actions are seen by computer and software
companies as a government attempt to keep powerful encryption technology
out of both foreign and domestic markets.

   Further, government officials said, the Administration is expected in
a few weeks to endorse an FBI proposal that U.S. telecommunications firms
be required to guarantee that law enforcement agencies will have the
ability to tap phone and computer lines regardless of where the
technology goes.

   At the core of these high-tech disputes lies a fundamental conflict
between Americans' cherished privacy rights and the government's
investigative needs.

   Consumers have long known that most of their business transactions are
recorded in corporate and government databases that are already shuttled
around the country on communications lines.

   The prospect of an information superhighway that puts even more
transactions on-line--from medical records to pay-per-view movie
selections--raises the ante.

   "We can't just trust legal protections," said Jerry Berman, chairman
of a coalition of business executives and civil libertarians fighting the
Administration plan.

   However, James K. Kallstrom, the FBI's technology chief, said that
without wiretapping capabilities, "you're building a sanctuary for
criminality to go unfettered."

   U.S. high-tech executives say the Administration's position will prove
to be in vain because terrorists and criminals can already buy powerful
encryption technologies worldwide.

   The Business Software Alliance, which represents firms such as
Microsoft Corp., Novell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., on Friday expressed
"deep disappointment and regret" about the Administration's stance.

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-- 
"Law never made men a whit more just; and, by     | Korey Jerome Kruse
 means of their respect for it, even the well     | [email-masked]
 deposed are daily made the agents of injustice"  | [email-masked]
    --Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience"    | [email-masked]