Key escrow in the UK

[Gareth Bowker]

On Fri, Jul 29, 2005 at 02:01:08PM +0200, Jeremiah Foster wrote:
> On Jul 29, 2005, at 1:43 PM, Gareth Bowker wrote:
> >Why would they do that, if they knew their communications could now be
> >intercepted?
> 
> True, those using private key encryption may move to another form of 
> encryption, but is there another form of encryption as powerful and 
> easily available?

What impetus would there be to move?

> It is not so much the interception of communications that the police 
> are interested in, it is the decrypting of data on hard drives captured 
> in raids of suspected bomber's homes. In other words, should the police 
> have an escrowed key available for use only in situations where they 
> have already convinced the court that a search warrant is necessary?

But again, why would they use it? There's *already* software which works
with no form of escrow. Why would anyone switch to using software which
allows anyone with the escrow key to decrypt their data, when there are
tools which work with no form of key escrow?

Gareth
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