Archives: Expert Predictions

The government went forward with key escrow, not because the key escrow proposal received a universally warm reception, but because none of the proposal’s critics was able to suggest a better way to accommodate society’s interests in both privacy and law enforcement. Unless somebody comes up with one, key escrow is likely to be around for quite a while. That’s because the only alternative being proposed today is for the government to design or endorse encryption systems that will cripple law enforcement when the technology migrates – as it surely will – to the private sector. And that alternative is simply irresponsible.

With code breakers and code makers all in the same agency, NSA has more expertise in cryptography than any other entity in the country, public or private. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that NSA had the know-how to develop an encryption technique that provides users great security without compromising law enforcement access. To say that NSA shouldn’t be involved in this issue is to say the government should try to solve this difficult technical and social problem with both hands tied behind its back.

If companies want to develop and sell competing, unescrowed systems to other Americans, if they insist on hastening a brave new world of criminal immunity, they can still do so – as long as they’re willing to use their own money. That’s what the free market is all about. Of course, a free market in the U.S. doesn’t mean freedom to export encryption that may damage U.S. national security.

As encryption technology gets cheaper and more common, though, we face the real prospect that the federal government’s own research, its own standards, its own purchases will help create the future I described earlier – one in which criminals use ubiquitous encryption to hide their activities.