Will Price has made an exemplary statement on behalf of
PGP. It should be a model to match or beat by the other
producers. Any firm which does not come up to that level
with public statements should be noted widely as contributing
to distrust of US crypto products and policy.
Even so, the statements may needed refreshing to fit the changing
tides of global markets and closed door international treaty
agreements.
The report issued yesterday by the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence, for the Intelligence Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2000, vividly describes, among other failiings, the
sorry state of NSA's cryptological prowess and recommends
that the agency form close ties with industry to get it back in the
lead of snooping on global communications:
http://cryptome.org/hr106-620.txt
Much funding is to be poured into this gov-com alliance, and
there will surely be stringent tests of principle to not be sucked
into secret agreements on behalf of US national security -- and
perhaps domestic security as the home threat is boosted:
Clinton authorized another $300 million yesterday for anti-
terrorism, including the chimerical cyber threat:
http://cryptome.org/wjc051700.htm
Will popular demand for crypto deliver the profits corporations
need to resist government contracts, as set out in the New
York Times today, or will the Crypto AG gameplan win the
secret bidding contest again as it has for so long.
What is the latest on Austin Hill's ongoing meetings with the
feds to assure them that ZKS products are compatible with law and
order? He candidly reported the first few, promised to publicly
report the upcoming, but none have appeared that I have seen.
Who else is giving such assurances under the baleful watch
of VCs and plain old Cs.
KRA may be defunct, or it may have gone behind closed doors,
for the key recovery program at NIST is still going like a bat
out of hell, making sure the USG gets GAK in place and assuring
the rest will follow the money.
