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From: jfc@athena.mit.edu (John F Carr)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: Clipper chip
Date: 28 Apr 1993 12:16:22 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 22
Message-ID: <1rlsimINNdts@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
References: <19930426.113215.145@almaden.ibm.com> <1993Apr28.104036.15896@ens.fr>
NNTP-Posting-Host: achates.mit.edu

In article <1993Apr28.104036.15896@ens.fr>
	h2o@dmi.ens.fr (Philippe Hoogvorst) writes:

>Forbidding crypted communication is impractical: how is it possible to spot
>a crypted communication in the thousands of megabytes of data which circulate
>on the various existing networks. What about private networks ?

I suspect the government feels it is enough to prevent companies from
offering secure encryption services.  Big companies don't take that
kind of risk.  They're too visible and have too much to lose.

The US government may not have to make encryption illegal to prevent its
use.  If they could credibly say to IBM or MIT: you will receive no US
government money next year unless you follow these voluntary guidelines on
use of encryption, I doubt either organization would delay making use of
encryption a violation of local policies.  The US government gets much of
its power by making it impractical to operate without getting money from the
government while putting restrictions on use of such money that would be
illegal if they were enacted as laws.

--
    John Carr (jfc@athena.mit.edu)
