Re:Interpol plans to condemn encryption spread, citing preda...
by hollerith on Monday November 18, 2019 @12:42PM
(#21566307)
>the reason we don't have backdoors in private encryption systems today is because of public outcry
I always thought the NSA gave up on its Clipper Chip initiative not because people complained, but rather because of a handful of people with the right skills or the right kind of influence engaged in civil disobedience.
Specifically, Phil Zimmermann wrote PGP and published its source code (under no-commercial-use terms, which at that time were not frowned upon as strongly as they are these days) and enough people demonstrated a resolve to keep the source code on the internet -- by continuing to host it even after being threatened by the US government -- to convince the NSA that it would never persuade enough manufacturers to adopt the Clipper Chip.
Netscape's decision to design and implement SSL and include it in the most popular browser of the day probably had a lot to do with it, too.
I always thought the NSA gave up on its Clipper Chip initiative not because people complained, but rather because of a handful of people with the right skills or the right kind of influence engaged in civil disobedience.
Specifically, Phil Zimmermann wrote PGP and published its source code (under no-commercial-use terms, which at that time were not frowned upon as strongly as they are these days) and enough people demonstrated a resolve to keep the source code on the internet -- by continuing to host it even after being threatened by the US government -- to convince the NSA that it would never persuade enough manufacturers to adopt the Clipper Chip.
Netscape's decision to design and implement SSL and include it in the most popular browser of the day probably had a lot to do with it, too.