Encryption: Privacy versus National Security

In this essay, the author

• Explains that encryption is growing at a tremendous rate, and cryptography issues have engulfed both the u.s. government and the computing industry since 1991.
• Explains that advances in cryptography have brought attention to encryption policies in the united states from three large groups: the government, the computing industry, and researchers. the issue is trying to find a new standard that will be accepted by both groups.
• Explains that before the 1990s, the encryption issue was straightforward; government, computing industry, and researchers were satisfied with the worldwide data encryption standard.
• Explains that the government is concerned about the implications of securely encrypted communications, and the computing public is losing faith in des.
• Explains that the government proposed the escrowed encryption standard in 1993, which encrypted messages in two stages.
• Opines that although the computing industry has been hostile towards key escrow and key recovery systems, such standards do not provide some benefits. the government needs to be able to continue to protect this country from domestic and foreign enemies.
• Opines that the world will be safer if criminals cannot take advantage of a ubiquitous, standardized encryption infrastructure that is immune from any conceivable law enforcement wiretap.
• Explains that illegal wiretapping by a rogue prosecutor or police officer is impossible. the use of encryption by criminals is increasing greatly.
• Explains that the fbi laboratory division's computer analysis and response team has seen the number of cases utilizing encryption and/or password protection increase from two percent to approximately twenty percent over the past four years.
• Explains that the new operating system will allow users to employ an encrypted file system which will provide the individual computerusers with easy to use "point and click" encryption thereby enabling criminals and terrorists to easily encrypt all of the files stored on their computer.
• Explains that key escrow systems have been rejected by the computing industry because they add a substantial security risk.
• Explains that key recovery systems are less secure, more costly, and difficult to use than similar systems without a recovery feature. massive deployment of key-recovery-based infrastructures will require significant sacrifices insecurity and convenience and substantially increase costs to all users of encryption.
• Opines that the scale and complexity that would be required for such ascheme is beyond the experience and current competency of the field and may introduce ultimately unacceptable risks and costs.
• Explains that the computing industry and researchers are moving towards new algorithms that provide "everlasting security".
• Opines that dr. rubin's algorithm provides ultimate privacy to every individual. every law-abiding person should have the right to keep their private conversations private, forever.
• Explains that they conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone. every unjustifiable intrusion bythe government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever themeans employed, must be deemed a violation.
• Opines that a new encryption system would be risky, since criminals could communicate without the fear of ever incriminating themselves. schneier argues that security companies are blinded by shiny new cryptography.
• Opines that the aes proposal suggests a compromise that will provide the greatest utility to all.
• Cites bowyer, kevin, h. abelson, and schwartz, john. the risks of key recovery, key escrow and trusted third party encryption.
• Cites baker, stewart, rivest, ronald l., kolata, gina and olmstead v. u.s.