Toady: Dorothy Denning
Dorothy Denning, a computer science professor at Georgetown University,
has been a vocal supporter of government-escrowed key management
cryptosystems since they were proposed. She has written numerous support
pieces for Clipper and is the closest available substitute for a
respectable participant on the "pro" or "for" half of the debate. Although
the FBI has been categorically exposed as colluding with the NSA and
Department of Justice in working toward a ban of strong encryption for
U.S. citizens and residents, Ms. Denning continues to support key escrow.
The battle has already been lost. It is impossible to put the cryptographic
genie back into the bottle. Strong encryption is available free world-wide
including methods for disguising cryptographic communication as normal
communication. Any criminal smart enough and desperate enough to use
cryptography is not going to be deterred or hampered by cryptographic
import-export laws. If you're already smuggling guns, drugs, or people,
or facing death or life imprisonment, what's the extra overhead of using
crypto when it can significantly increase your chances of success?
Criminals will use existing cryptosystems. They are available now. They
are practically undetectable. They can be used to disguise themselves.
They are currently exportable from the U.S. if in publically available
printed form. The algorithms are known worldwide, and some of the strongest
known are easily memorized and performed (using small keys) by children.
The only thing a crypto ban will do will make it easy for the government
to automatically monitor the communication of U.S. residents, and this
is simply not acceptable.
From Edupage:
SUPPORT FOR KEY ESCROW
Saying that encryption gives terrorists and criminals a powerful tool for
evading law enforcement and that "the effect of unbridled encryption on
public safety and social order could be catastrophic," Georgetown computer
science professor Dorothy Denning urges support for key escrow encryption,
which she maintains does not threaten individual privacy because court
orders are required both to access your information and obtain keys and
because keys used to establish your identity would not be given to the
government." USA Today 27 Oct 95 A12
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