Clipper is deliberately compromised to allow law enforcement officials to wire-tap phones in the digital age. The fear is that authorized wire-taps would be rendered meaningless if the speech is encoded with an unbreakable encryption technique. Clipper would be a standard encryption system used by individuals and businesses to keep their communications secret and for which the government would hold a master key for decrypting messages. During the Bush administration, several attempts to pass legislation to require Clipper to be installed in domestic telecommunication systems failed in Congress. Under Clinton, the government is using its purchasing power to create a market for Clipper by requiring Clipper-equipped telephones for government use, both within and outside of the defense department.
Cryptography is the process of writing in or deciphering secret code.
It dates back to ancient Rome and has most often been used by the military. This coded text is then sent to the intended recipient, who presumably has the appropriate key to decipher the text. Encryption processes are implemented with mathematical algorithms that convert the original message into a coded or ciphered text based upon the key that is used. In a well designed system, the algorithm, or mathematical basis for the encryption, may be public and have no impact on the secrecy of the messages. The security of the encryption depends only on the secrecy of the key.