After reading the debate over the Clipper, I have a few things to
add.

	First, most of the people I know who activly use encryption
privately do not care about most of the issues that surround this debate,
and any questions about what is or is not ok to use in the US. All they
care about is wether or not what they are using is secure or not. That,
after all IS the bottom line. 

	Second, if I look at all the people I know who use any form
of encryption at all, and this group spans people from the morons who
still insist that the DES is a good and secure standard, to people 
looking at trying to improve upon existing strategies, I can not think
of anyone of them who would approve blindly of a strategy that leaves
their methods open to abuse. The Clipper does this, because people make
mistakes by nature, and the US government is made up of people who are
just as vulnerable to mistakes as everyone else. 

	Third, since most of the people I know are at least marginaly
familiar with the vulnerabilities present in current software encryption
stratigies, I can't see how most of them are going to blindly trust that
someone will not figure out a good way to compromise the Clipper Chip.
That despite any strengths or weaknesses that may exist in it. So, I can 
not see a high degree of confidence developing in the chip.

	Fourth, when it comes to criminal abuse, sure there are many stupid
people out there. And yes, some will be open to being caught via the 
built in back door of the Clipper Chip. However, anyone who is going to
do any serious investigation of how best to secure their data is going
to run into that problem pretty damned fast and, I would assume, start
looking around for other easily obtainible methods of encryption. 


	If nothing else were avalible, none of this would be an issue. However,
the truth is that most private encryption users that I've ever run into
simply do not give a damn about the legal status of RSA or PGP or anything
else. If it works, they use it. This is not going to change either. I do
not think for a moment that anyone with serious criminal intent will be
slowed down by the advent of the Clipper Chip. It is all to easy to 
convert encrypted data into unintellgible garbage as it is, if anything,
the Clipper Chip just adds another tool to the user.


	The bottom line here is that people will use what works, and
unavoidibly, I'm sure most criminals would rather face an encryption
related charge than one which could potentialy lead to death penalty
charges in the case of criminals who murder as part of their conspiricy.
	The other thing that has struck me since the advent and wide 
useage of public encryption has begun is that quite simply the cat is
out of the bag (Or if you have an interest in snooping, Pandora's Box
has been opened), and this is not going to change. I've seen a blindness
to this that I've found utterly stunning, and the Clipper Chip, along
with the way it has been presented only confirms this to me to a larger
degree.


			Sincerly,

			Tim Scanlon

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