Vice President Gore Questions Key Escrow Policy

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

Date: Sun, 13 Feb 1994 15:24:34 -0600
To: farber () central cis upenn edu
From: djw () eff org (Daniel J. Weitzner)


Dave, this is  what I sent Mike.


Mike Nelson (White House OSTP) wrote re: my report on VP Gore's Clipper remarks:


Correction:


Gore said the Clipper proposal can be improved.  (We all know that!)  He
didn't indicate he was walking away from the idea or that he was
reconsidering decisions he and other top officials made less than 10 days
ago.


My response:


It seems to me that a plan which is designed to protect personal privacy
and business security should be carefully de-bugged BEFORE being offered to
the public as a viable solution.


The Vice President made a number of remarks to Mitch, Esther & myself which
indicated that he thought there were serious problems with the current
plan, most notably that the wrong escrow agents had been chosen.  He
suggested that some part of the judicial branch might be a more appropriate
venue.


Inasmuch as the indentity of the key holder determines the degree of
privacy protection in the system as a whole, a less than ideal choice there
is a material flaw in the whole system.


BTW - an independent reporter who heard the converstation in its entirety
(and probably has it on tape), confirmed our understanding of the Vice
President's remarks.  An excerpt from her story is appended to the end of
this message.




==================================


Vice President Says Clipper Chip Controls Inadequate
Gore Indicates Administration's Position Is 'Not Locked in Stone'


By Jayne Levin
(c) 1994


    WASHINGTON, Feb. 11--Vice President Gore said controls
recently adopted by the Clinton administration that authorize
two government agencies to safeguard the electronic "keys" in an
encoding device called the "Clipper Chip" are inadequate.
    Under the Clipper plan, the keys would be stored at the
Treasury Department and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), which is part of the Commerce Department.
Both Treasury and Commerce are from the same branch of
government, the executive branch.
    "When I saw that I said, 'Wow. Wow. That is not right,' and
I raised hell about that," Gore said in an interview Thursday.
    Having the key holders from the same branch of government
raises concern because there is no system of checks and
balances, Gore said. "That's going to be changed," he said.
Clipper gives law-enforcement agencies a key to eavesdrop on
telephone and computer communications under a court order.
    The selection of NIST and Treasury "was spun out of the
process at the low level and was not vetted at the top," Gore
said. Gore's comments were made after appearing before the first
meeting of a private sector advisory panel on the development of
a "national information infrastructure" in Washington, D.C.




**************************************************************************
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to protect your privacy.  To
help stop Clipper and eliminate export controls on cryptography, support a
bill introduced in the House of Representatives, HR 3627.  To support the
bill, send email to <cantwell () eff org>.


......................................................................
Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel              <djw () eff org>
Electronic Frontier Foundation                        202-347-5400 (v)
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