[104544] in Cypherpunks
UK Government unveils crypto escrow legislation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Gilmore)
Thu Oct 22 22:19:53 1998
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 18:47:49 -0700
From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
Reply-To: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 15:38:10 +0100
From: Malcolm Hutty <cacib@liberty.org.uk>
To: declan@well.com
Subject: UK Government unveils crypto escrow legislation
The UK government has announced legislation designed to force
escrow of confidentiality keys on UK netizens.
They are planning a licenced system of Certificate Authorities in an
attempt to force key escrow down the throats of British computer
users. This could be a model for other governments. The idea is
that digital signatures get preferential legal treatment if certified by
a licenced CA, but to get a licence you must escrow confidentiality
keys.
The licensing authority will be OFTEL, the telecoms regulator.
You may want to check out this link for full details
http://omnisite.liberty.org.uk/cacib/
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