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Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 13:10:58 -0800
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Cloud Over Future of PGP (fwd)
<snip>
>
>Seems like the days of peer-reviewed encryption
>software may be numbered. Just trust Us.
>
>Regards,
>
>Barry Skaggs
>
>
>
>Cloud Over Future of Pretty Good Privacy
> The Price of Key Recovery
>
>Following Monday's US$35 million cash
>acquisition of PGP by Network Associates,
>the man who once testified before the
>Senate that key recovery could "strengthen
>the hand of a police state" now works for a
>company that actively promotes it.
>
>Reaction from e-privacy activists was swift
>and harsh.
>"The users of PGP can no longer rely on the
>credibility of Phil Zimmermann to ensure that
>the product is everything that they've been
>promised it's been previously," said Dave
>Banisar, attorney for the Electronic Privacy
>Information Center and co-author of The
>Electronic Privacy Papers
>
>Network Associates, formerly known as
>the Key Recovery Alliance, an organization
>that lobbies Congress for key recovery that
>would grant law enforcement agencies
>back-door access to private encrypted
>communications.
>
>Network Associates and other companies
>support key recovery because it would allow
>them to export strong crypto software
>without bothering to make a separate
>nonrecoverable version for the domestic
>market. The Commerce Department forbids
>export of the strongest available encryption
>without elaborate promises from
>manufacturers to develop key recovery
>features. Thus many companies are forced
>to develop both export and domestic
>versions of their software, each with
>differing crypto strengths.
>
>But Zimmermann, a pioneer of strong
>encryption, has spent years crusading
>against key recovery, calling it an invasion
>of privacy. And the most recent release of
>PGP's encryption software allows users to
>disable key recovery.
>
>"People should give their consent to use
>[recovery]," Zimmermann said. When asked
>whether future versions of the package will
>retain that option, Zimmermann replied,
>"Certainly, as long as I have anything to say
>about it."
>
>Zimmermann's new title at Network
>Associates is "fellow," but he declined to
>comment on exactly what authority and
>responsibility that confers. Meanwhile, Phil
>Dunkelberger, PGP's former president and
>CEO, was named general manager of
>Network Associates' Total Network
>Security Division.
>
>"It's going to take some time to figure things
>out," said Zimmermann.
>
>EPIC's Banisar was less diplomatic and
>postulated that Zimmermann's new title
>reflected a clash of values between him and
>Network Associates on key recovery.
>
>"We have a number of fellows here, and
>they are usually unpaid volunteers," Banisar
>said.
>
>"It will require a fundamental examination by
>human rights groups and others about
>whether any newer versions of PGP are
>truly trustworthy," said Banisar.
>
>Network Associates could not be reached
>for comment.
>
>Wired, Dec. 3, 1997
>
<snip>
===========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness 01
B.A.: Political Science, UCLA; M.S.: Public Administration, U.C.Irvine 02
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email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU 04
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ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best 06
Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone 07
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_____________________________________: Law is authority in written words 09
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall 10
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. 11
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