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Senator Backs Down On Crypto Backdoors

Posted by timothy on from the feints-and-reversals dept.

evenprime writes: " Sen. Judd Gregg (Republican, New Hampshire) was advocating mandatory backdoors in crypto on Sept. 13. Wired is now reporting that Sen. Gregg has changed his mind. They say that Gregg's spokesman, Brian Hart, has said: 'We are not working on an encryption bill and have no intention to.'" As Rob Carlson is quoted at the article's close, though: "(Gregg) said he was definitely supporting it. Now he says he's definitely not. Maybe he'll say he's definitely supporting it again."

2 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. The fun never stops. by trilucid · · Score: 3, Informative


    Ok, I'm sure none of us are surprised by this sort of political backpedalling, but it's still funny and sad at the same time.

    Judd's actions were (IMHO) mostly a knee-jerk, "let's get some P.R. for our re-election campaign going" fear-based reaction. It's sick to see politicians using something as horrible as 9/11 for their own ends like this, but again, not surprising.

    Here's another site discussing this stuff as well: Wartimelibery.com [yass].

    As for the so-called poll results that were "supporting" his initial efforts to get this stuff rammed through into policy, they're just more evidence that the American public doesn't entirely grasp the full ramifications of this sort of thing. Now, I'm not blaming these people entirely. I'd be *completely* unqalified to talk about heart surgery, although I understand encyption.

    Maybe its time for more public efforts aimed at educating the masses about how encryption really works. This might help reduce the position a lot of folks have taken recently that "it's a terrorism tool" and such. Yes, it can be used for evil, but so can the spatula I use to flip my pancakes on the stove. Nobody wants to outlaw cookware.

    Anybody got links to projects in action *now* that are trying to accomplish this sort of thing?

  2. Since most slashdotters probably don't read it, by po_boy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I should mention that this is discussed in the Cato Institute's Daily Dispatch today. It points to a longer discussion (from 10/11/01 when Mr. Gregg was proposing the legislation) that you may find relevant.