[116990] in Cypherpunks
Re: [ZKS Press Release] Home Invasion Bill Drives U.S. Computer Users
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Tue Aug 24 21:22:56 1999
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 03:04:46 +0200 (CEST)
Message-Id: <199908250104.DAA00837@mail.replay.com>
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
> Montreal--Aug. 23, 1999-- A US Justice Department proposal
> to secretly enter its citizens' homes and disable security
> features on their computers has driven tens of thousands
> of Americans to request privacy protection from Canadian
> privacy firm Zero-Knowledge Systems, the company announced
> today.
It's understandable that ZKS wants to get some publicity (although it is
a bit premature when their product is still in beta). But ZKS technology
will be of no help in response to home invasion wiretaps. In fact ZKS may
well be one of the reasons why the FBI is pushing for this new authority.
If they succeed in making encryption and anonymity as easy to use and
automatic as they claim, this will be a huge setback for eavesdroppers.
The FBI is terrified of commercial crypto vendors who threaten to
make push-button crypto available to everyone. They are desperately
looking for some way that they can maintain their Echelon surveillance.
This latest proposal appears doomed, but we can expect them to be back
with a more moderate suggestion which they can spin as being responsive
to concerns of critics.
