The risks associated with the compromise or misuse of keys will be negligible. Thus, key escrow will not degrade encryption’s capability to protect against crime on the information superhighway, only its capability to conceal crime.
If encryption comes into widespread use on the information superhighway, this could seriously jeopardize law enforcement and the public safety. Encryption is also a threat to foreign intelligence operations, and thus can affect national security.
If a system has security holes, an intruder might be able to penetrate the system, circumventing encryption and authentication mechanisms. They might then be able to obtain access to cryptographic keys or put a Trojan horse in encryption software. Encryption also cannot prevent insiders from misusing their access privileges.
Cryptographic techniques can be used to implement digital cash that is protected from duplication, alteration, and counterfeiting. They can be used to implement untraceable cash and anonymous, untraceable transactions. While such services can offer many privacy benefits, they also could facilitate money laundering and fraud.
E-mail fraud could become a serious problem as the information superhighway evolves into a major system of electronic commerce, with million-dollar contracts being negotiated and transacted through electronic mail.
Encryption can protect against espionage, sabotage, and fraud. But it is a dual-edged sword in that it can also enable criminal activity and interfere with foreign intelligence operations. Thus, the role of encryption on the information superhighway poses a major dilemma.
Because it is so easy to copy and distribute information electronically, computer networks present a serious risk to intellectual property.
The nightmare is that newcomers, once they discover the Net’s more trivial kicks, will lose sight of its broader potential. There will be enough newbies online to hi-jack the culture, and when they get lost in the bullshit they’ll drag the whole shooting match down with them. A precious opportunity will be lost forever, and big corporate media suits will lean back in their executive swivel seats and breathe a sigh of relief.
In their favor, distance-learning technologies can conceivably bring all the data in the world to the student, a feat never before possible … But this is not enough. What about the analytical requirements? … What about discussion? What about writing exercises? What about being able to share the instructor’s expertise on an individual basis? These elements cannot be ignored … This type of problem might be overcome, but there still would remain lost the peculiar aesthetic of a classroom and the productive environment it fosters when the classmates are not two-dimensional.
CMC systems will eventually allow for multi-media and even virtual-reality message content.