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clipper chip
Gibson Carpenter (JWGC@UKANVAX.BITNET)
Tue, 15 Mar 1994 14:53:24 -0600
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FORWARDED FROM: Hungerford, David
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Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 18:26:03 -0800
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From: prdavis@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Paul Davis)
To: Multiple recipients of list <ecl290@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Subject: petition against Clipper Chip
X-To: ecl290@ucdavis.edu
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: Ecology 290: Society and Technology
Ecl290 folk,
Note: I previously sent this to the sociology list.
Below is a petition to cancel the clipper chip. As I understand it the
Clipper chip is intended be incorporated in all computers, phones and local
phone switches that have encription capabilities. Although these phones and
computers are very rare now this market isanticipated to grow very rapidly
since the network is *very* easily compromized, and there is no apparent
alternative solution to this security problem than to encrypt data at the
source and decrypt is at the endpoint of the transmission.
There are several disturbing aspects of the chip. 1) It uses an
encryption system developed by the NSA that was never made available to
public scrutiny. 2) The chip has a "back door" that will allow the
government to listen in on the encrypted signal. Supposedly the only way to
do this is with a court order but given the NSA's involvement this is
clearly suspect. 3) Encryption systems that do not have "back doors" may
(will? I'm not sure) be made illegal. 4) Finally the chip is designed to
disintegrate when tampered with so that it can never be reverse engineered.
In other words every critical piece of data in the US will be going
through a chip that the NSA developed. Sure makes me feel uneasy!
-Paul
>> >
>> > please forward this to everyone you know... this is important!
>> >
>> > For those of you who don't know, Clipper is a proposal circulating in the
>> > government right now whereby the government will require that all methods
>>of
>> > encrypting data (including e-mail) have a 'backdoor' of sorts so that the
>> > government will be able to decrypt and read the data. As you may have
>> > guessed, this is an infringement on your right to privacy.
>> >
>> > Below are details on a petition against Clipper, and how to sign your
name
>> > to it. Please read.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>> >
>> >
>> > Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper
>> > Please Distribute Widely
>> >
>> > On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography
>> > and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to
>> > withdraw the Clipper proposal.
>> >
>> > The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable,
>> > including coverage in the New York Times and numerous computer and
>> > security trade magazines.
>> >
>> > Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the
>> > letter. In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an
>> > Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will
>> > deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the
>> > names of all the people who oppose Clipper.
>> >
>> > To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
>> >
>> > Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
>> >
>> > with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
>> >
>> > You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
>> >
>> > Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
>> > their opposition to the Clipper proposal.
>> >
>> > CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization. For
>> > membership information, please email cpsr@cpsr.org. For more
>> > information about Clipper, please consult the CPSR Internet Library -
>> > FTP/WAIS/Gopher CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > =====================================================================
>> >
>> > The President
>> > The White House
>> > Washington, DC 20500
>> >
>> > Dear Mr. President:
>> >
>> > We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption
>> > proposal now under consideration by the White House. We wish to
>> > express our concern about this plan and similar technical standards
>> > that may be proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure.
>> >
>> > The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies
>> > primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy
>> > protection. Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus
>> > beyond public review.
>> >
>> > The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous
>> > opposition to Clipper. In the formal request for comments conducted
>> > by the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of
>> > respondents supported the plan. Several hundred opposed it.
>> >
>> > If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop
>> > new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers
>> > who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be
>> > discouraged. Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology
>> > will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations
>> > unfulfilled.
>> >
>> > Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis
>> > and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable. The
>> > government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and
>> > the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small. Few
>> > in the user community believe that the proposal would be truly
>> > voluntary.
>> >
>> > The Clipper proposal should not be adopted. We believe that if
>> > this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a
>> > voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation
>> > will be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the
>> > openness necessary to ensure the successful development of the
>> > nation's communications infrastructure will be threatened.
>> >
>> > We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper
>> > proposal.
>> >
>> >------------------------------
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