He says that since the dawn of civilization we have lost too much of our privacy to ever regain it as a birthright. Nonetheless, with the Clinton administration's latest crypto volley, Clipper III, the distrust between the Feds and the netizenry is taut. Listen in as Diffie chats with Hotseat host John McChesney on the evolution of encryption. The government fears that without key escrow, it could miss critical information on conspiracies to, for example, blow up the World Trade Center. As the cost of digital communication declines, we use digital technology to communicate in more and more ways.
Cryptography is just a tiny part of that.
Flood our mailbox . HotSeat is a weekly RealAudio panel discussion, moderated by John McChesney, where Packet personalities and an industry guest debate timely, newsworthy, and controversial issues of interest to the wired world. HotSeat posts every Friday. The HotSeat theme was designed by Paul Godwin, New Dog Music . Illustration by Dave Plunkert Join the HotWired Network, it's free .