Week 3: Law & Internet Seminar

The Cryptography Wars

Reading:

1. Philip Zimmermann, Why Do You Need PGP?
2. A. Michael Froomkin, The Metaphor is the Key: Cryptography, the Clipper Chip and the Constitution, 143 U. Penn. L. Rev. 709 (1995)). There is more than you need to know about the Clipper Chip here. I suggest you skim Part 1 but pay special attention to the section called "How Clipper Works", try skipping Part 2, and concentrate on parts 3 & 4.
3. A. Michael Froomkin, It Came From Planet Clipper: The Battle Over Cryptographic Key "Escrow"
4. Compare the decisions in the Bernstein I, Bernstein II, and Bernstein III cases with the decision in Karn v. U.S. (Note: you need to page down a little to find the text of the decision).

EXTRA EXTRA The Bernstein stay decision is now on-line. Also, here is an unofficial but much more readable version of Bernstein III
5. Skim the "key escrow" rules added to the EAR early this year [the EAR replaced the ITAR].
6. Dr. Denning's analysis of the (non?)dangers of cryptography (not available on the web: handout available from distribution center).

 

Doing:

1. Visit the web pages of all seminar participants as they become available.
2. Add a new hypertext link to your homepage.
3. Add a "mailto" link to your homepage that allows readers to send you an email message.
4. Put a "last modified" date on your page(s). Please keep these accurate as the seminar progresses.

Late-breaking news

• Oct '97: The European Union issues a new report on crypto policy that rejects the US-based idea of mandatory key escrow.
• EXTRA EXTRA Read the House Select Committee on Intelligence draft of the SAFE bill -- a blueprint for domestic mandatory key escrow
• FBI Director Louis Freeh tells the Senate that he supports mandatory key escrow for domestic cryptography.

Optional

• Latest amended complaint in the Junger cryptography case
• The RSA Cryptography FAQ has a wealth of technical information, most of it explained so non-math types can understand it.
• The EFH Pretty Good Privacy Workshop is a great tutorial on PGP.
• Phil Karn's extensive pages on the Applied Cryptography case -- really interesting stuff here! [If you want to you can collect the whole set of pleadings in the Bernstein case also; some great briefs here].
• Former Intel staffer and Net Philosopher Tim May's Crypto-Anarchy and Virtual Communities.
• Dr. Denning's The Future of Cryptography is a heartfelt counter to Tim May's essay.
• Michael Adler, Cyberspace, General Searches and Digital Contraband: The Fourth Amendment and the Net-Wide Search, 105 Yale L.J. 1093 (1995) (not on line so far as I know but there are multiple copies on the shelf in the library).