However, the predictable costs and risks of key recovery, particularly when deployed on the scale desired by law enforcement, are very substantial. The onus is on the advocates of key recovery to make the case that the benefits outweigh these substantial risks and costs. The report, which updates 'The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, and Trusted Third-Party Encryption' issued last year by the same group of cryptography experts, argues that the kinds of backdoor key recovery systems proposed by the federal government will introduce tremendous new vulnerabilities and costs that jeopardize Internet privacy and security. The 1998 update of the cryptography experts' report takes a critical look at the technical details of key recovery systems designed to facilitate government access and finds them wanting. These concerns must have a place in the policy debate.
Key recovery remains the central issue in the encryption policy debate.
The Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to developing public policy solutions that advance civil liberties and democratic values in the new computer and communications media.