} Subject: From Inter@ctive Week: Denning no longer backing key escrow?
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}
} Here's an interesting question:
} What happens when your star technical witness tells others she's no longer
} your witness at all?
} Denning now says she has doubts...
}
} (Responses? I'm no longer on cypherpunks, so mail me directly.
}
} Cheers
}
} - Will
}
} Administration Supporter Having Second Thoughts On Encryption Plan
}
} By Will Rodger 1:30 PM EDT
}
} Nixon went to China. Constantine converted to Christianity. Napoleon crowned
} himself emperor.
}
} So why can't Dorothy Denning be a cypherpunk?
}
} That's the question encryption mavens ask as the Georgetown University
} computer scientist slowly lets the word out: She won't back government plans
} for key recovery, key escrow or anything else alleged to increase national
} security until backers show that the benefits of controls on encryption
} outweighs those of letting free market forces govern its use.
}
} That's a far cry from the way she once talked about encryption technology. As
} recently as this year Denning was pegged as a strong backer of keeping
} controls on a wide range of computer-security products.
}
} "Maybe export controls should be lifted," Denning said. "But I'm not saying
} that all controls should be lifted. I've gotten into a state where I don't
} know and I'm not sure that I ever knew."
}
} Denning may be the only prominent cryptographer to support government control
} of encryption technology, the underlying technology behind nearly all
} Internet security devices that scramble information so even the wiliest
} hacker is powerless to decode it. As the author of the first widely read
} textbook on the subject, her opinion carries weight with at least some in the
} encryption community.
}
} Since encryption can be used to defeat lawful wiretaps and other electronic
} searches and seizures, Denning backed law enforcement as it tried to fight
} encryption's spread abroad.
}
} But now a host of objections to the Clinton administration's plan have turned
} the argument on its head. As the Internet becomes more popular for business
} use, encryption is more important than ever to keep hackers out. And a recent
} cryptographer's report suggesting that it would be far riskier to give
} governments spare keys to decode messages in a few places than not to have
} third party access at all has clearly shaken Denning's confidence.
}
} Policy specialists in Washington and elsewhere have speculated that Denning
} would announce something soon, but none wants to push her for fear of
} alienating someone who could end up a potent ally.
}
} "I don't think any close scientific observer of this debate can deny that
} there are real technical concerns raised by the Administration's position,"
} said Alan Davidson, counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology.
}
} "I think its just best for us to sit back and not say anything at this
} point," added another prominent activist. "We don't want to force her hand."
}
} Will Denning go over to the other side?
}
} "I'm not advocating anything anymore," Denning said. "I support what the
} administration is doing because I really see them struggling with these
} things."
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}
} Will Rodger
} Washington Bureau Chief
} Inter@ctive Week
} A Ziff-Davis Publication
} http://www.interactiveweek.com
}-- End of excerpt from Will Rodger