QUESTIONS from Rusty Schweickart to D. Denning re her Clipper letter of 10 Feb

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu.1>]

Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 21:31:36 -0800
From: Rusty Schweickart <rs () well sf ca us>
To: denning () cs cosc georgetown edu
Subject: QUESTIONS
Cc: farber () central cis upenn edu, jberman () eff org, rs () well sf ca us




Dear Ms. Denning:        10 February 1994/21:20


In the second to last paragraph of your letter re cautioning
people against signing the CPSR petition against Clipper you
said...


 .... (via Dave Farber/EFF)
> Date: Wed, 09 Feb 1994 17:23:28 -0500 (EST)
> From: denning () cs cosc georgetown edu (Dorothy Denning)
> Subject: Re: Campaign and Petition Against Clipper
>
> ...
> ... In the absence of understanding the national security issues, I
> believe we need to exercise some caution in believing that we can
> understand the full implications of encryption on society.


I am no stranger to national security issues, and I have no
doubts of your convictions or the integrity of your work on the
Clipper Chip.  But I am at a complete loss to understand or
sympathize with a statement which in essence asks the citizenry
to forsake its fundamental constitutional right to privacy on
the basis that the government knows best what is good for the
people, albeit it isn't at liberty to explain why in detail.


The logic put forward on the necessity for wiretaps (duly
approved) is so fallacious as to seem ludicrous.  Drug cartels,
terrorists, malicious foreign agents and other real threats are
the last to rely on the Clipper for secure communications when
there are alternative strong encryption systems readily
available.  Who then will the NSA and others eavesdrop on?  Dumb
criminals and those with nothing to hide?


How can my government, and you by association, ask me and other
citizens to abdicate our responsibility to protect our
constitutional right to privacy when no rational argument has been
presented to justify this erosion of liberty?


I welcome an answer, and I respect your inability to answer all
the mail you are receiving on this matter.


Rusty Schweickart