IP: re: VeriSign Gets Commerce Dept OK For Issuance Of 128-Bit

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

Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 09:05:39 -0400
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: tdeyoung () mail arc nasa gov (Tice F. Deyoung)


Dave,


   I find this to be onerous.  I'm surprized that no one from your IP list
has questioned the Government's right to "permit" the use of 128 bit keys.
When did they take away the U.S. citizen's right to privacy and replace it
with this?  Will we also be required to escrow our private keys (ala
Freeh's testimony), or will 128 bit keys not require one, whereas larger
key sizes will?  Has there been some Constitutional Amendment that I don't
know about?  Has the ACLU fallen asleep?  Am I the only one who sees this
as a direct subjugation of my right of privacy?  If the Government thinks
it can convince people that it has the right to limit your privacy, why
can't it also decide who has these limited rights?  When you couple this
with the IP posting containing FBI Director Louis Freeh's testimony it
scares the beejeebies out of me.  Will we have a new era of Freehism that
will pale the McCarthyism of the fifties?


Tice