Key escrow in the UK

Simon Morris mozrat at gmail.com
Thu Jul 28 18:17:51 UTC 2005


On 7/28/05, Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah.foster at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> I would like to discuss this with the membership of this list and
> fellows at the FSFE. Is it permissible to allow key escrow by the
> authorities? Is this type of encryption too powerful to be in the hands
> of enemies of the state who take innocent lives? What are the limits on
> privacy? On public authorities invasion of privacy? How can we address
> the public need for information with the private need for privacy?
> 
> 

I think enforced key escrow has the same problems as national ID cards
(I live in the UK by the way)

Once you have found all the terrorists and made them register their
keys it's a great idea :)

At the moment cryptography software is so cheap in terms of
availability and ease of use there is no incentive for anyone to
register the key unless it becomes a legal requirement to do so. And
at the end of the day terrorists are already breaking dozens of more
serious laws already.

You'll end with a database of law abiding citizens keys... this
argument doesn't even touch on the privacy implications of such a
plan.

Thanks

~sm



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