Subject: Clipper Chip Commentary (not suitable for the cynicism impaired)

From: Daren Stebner <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Apr 1993 22:03:55 -0600 (CST)

Short Synopsis:

"We're from the government.  We're here to help...."

Long Synopsis:

   "No, no, no.  Don't use those regular old encryption devices; if everyone
uses them, then criminals will use them, too.  And if criminals use them, Big
Brother won't be able to protect you from all those nasty deals they make over
the phone.  It just makes the work of protecting you poor lost sheep that much
harder.
   "Here, Big Brother will make things all better, but in order for it to
work, you need to use this handy dandy NEW encryption algorithm that HE
designed.  He even put it on a chip to make it easy for you to use it in all
of your communication devices.  He even gave it a cute name -- the 'Clipper
Chip'.  See?!  Now, since Big Brother will know how to decode the messages,
He'll be able to listen in on the conversations of all of those yucky bad guys
so He can put them in jail and make things all better.
   "Could we listen in on your conversations too?  Well, yes, but we would
never dream of infringing on innocent peoples' rights to privacy.  That would
be a crime and Big Brother doesn't commit crimes.  He loves you all and would
never do anything to hurt you.  Most of all, he just wants to protect you from
those terrible, terrible, drug dealers.  That's all he would ever use the
Clipper Chip for.  Isn't that swell of Him?"

Daren Stebner  [email-masked]