The Washington Times
April 17, 1993 Saturday, Final Edition
Government picks affordable chip to scramble phone calls.
By Frank J. Murray
[Nasty sarcastic comments inserted by psionic(a)wam.umd.edu ]
[Typing errors by me. ]
President Clinton gave a major boost yesterday to one telephone-
scrambler technology in a decision its delighted manufacture likens to the
choice of VHS over Beta for videotape machines.
Mr. Clinton's action could allow the use of relatively cheap scramblers on
almost every cellular, business and government phone and make scramblers
common even on ordinary home telephones.
An administration official said the consideration will be given to
BANNING more sophisticated systems investigators cannot crack, thereby
creating a balance between banning private encryption and declaring a public
right to unbreakably coded coversations.
^^^^^
[Does this assert that the government has an inherent right to ]
[hear everything its citizens say? Or does it mean that only ]
[the government has a right to good encryption systems?? ]
"We've got a balance we've got to strike between the public's important
need for privacy and the public's need to be assured it's save from crime,"
^^^^^
[What crime? Please cite an example where an encrypted message was later]
[proven to be connected with a criminal activity. (Messages intercepted ]
[from the CIA don't count because they never do anything illegal.) ]
[Also what are the chances that a criminal that doesn't want to get ]
[caught will actually use this crippled chip? ]
said Raymond G. Kammer, acting director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, which developed the system with the National
Security Agency.
[And of course the NSA would never think of listening to every sattelite ]
[communication coming into and out of this country would they? ]
In an unusual decision he said was examined by the National Security
Council, Mr. Clinton directed the Commerce and Justice departments to
encourage the development of the high-tech system, which inludes electronic
master keys to enable law enforcement officials to decode transmissions if
they obtain court orders.
"This technology preserves the ability of federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies to intercept lawfully the phone conversations of
criminals." Mr. Clinton said, citing the fear that encryptoed phones could
aid terrorists and drug dealers.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
[If you want to spook americans, just say the word terrorist or drug ]
[dealer. Realistically, they have the money to buy good, secure crypto]
[gear. Again, is this system to realy catch "Drug dealers" and ]
["terrorists", or is it to spy on citizens and businesses?? ]
The system is designed to protect from unauthorized interception the
electronic transmission of conversations, computer data and video images at
a cost per telephone that could be under $30, said Ted Bettwy, executive
vice president of the manufactureer, Mykotronx Inc. of Torrance, Calif.
He said the chip announced yesterday, internally referred to as MYK-78,
costs about $40 and uses an algorithm 16 million times more complex than
that used by chips now on the market. Computer hackers have penetrated the
current chips.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
[This is incorrect. If they have penetrated the "Current Chips" this is ]
[news to me. If they could break the current technology so easily then ]
[there would be no need for the clipper chip would there? ]
The new chip uses an 80-bit code instead of the 56-bit code that is the
digital encryption standard (DES).
[Yeah, well IDEA uses a 128 bit key. My RSA Public key is 1024 bits. ]
[If I were to use an 80 bit public key that would be considered weak. ]
[So I don't care how many bits it has, I want to see the algorithm and ]
[then decide. Too bad it's classified... ]
The new chip eventually could sell in lots of 10,000 for about $25 each,
Mr. Kammer said, with later versions priced around $10 each.
Government engineers at NSA and the Commerce Department's NIST designed
and developed the chip, which was then produced by privately owned Mykotronx
and a publicly traded subcontractor, VLSI Technology.
A Silver Spring [Maryland] competitor cried foul, particularly because
the commercial device was developed without notice or competitive bids in a
classified laboratory that does work for the National Security Agency.
"If the purpose of this chip is to catch bad guys, then no bad guy will
use it." said Stephen Bryen of Secure Communications Technology in Silver
Spring, which produces a competitive chip he said could sell for $10.
"The answer is to invest more money intor breaking codes," Mr. Bryen said
in an interview after yesterday's announcement. "They're trying to put us
out of business."
Mr. Kammer said the secrecy was justified.
"The technology we're using was actually developed in a classified
environment in the first place and then transferred to a sole-source
supplier. I don't know that there was any way around it," he said in an
interview.
The Justice Department will buy several thousand of the Mykotronx
devices, which use a "Clipper Chip." They are being incorporated into other
systems by Mororola and American Telegraph & Telephone Co., Mr Bettwy said.
[So this means that secret agencies will still have access to secure ]
[communications devices. While the ordinary person will not. Sounds ]
[fair enough for me! ]
Other sophisticated encryption systems do not allow ready access for
authorized law enforcement purposes, said Mr. Bryen, who predicted that an
^^^^^^^^^^
[Also don't allow access for unauthorized law enforcement either]
elaborate security plan for the electronic master key would not prevent
misuse.
Mike Newman, a spokesman for the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, said "The key is split into two parts and stored separately to
ensure security of the key system."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
[If the key is stored in a computer database, then unauthorized access]
[is possible no matter what precautions are taken to ensure security. ]
Access would be provided to the two parts for an agency that produced
legitimate authority or a court order, he said. The Justice Department will
determine whether the two parts will be held by separate federal agencies or
a federal agency and a private agency.
"This chip is going to do something that we, the citizens, really need,
and that is to allow us the privacy we want as common citizens," Mr. Bettwy
said in a telephone interview from California yesterday.
[Translation: "This chip is going to do something that we, the NSA, ]
[really need, and that is to allow us to listen to whoever we want ]
[whenever we want to, whether they are private citizens, or commercial]
[organizations." ]
He said the vital part of yesterday's decision is the government's
declaration that it intends to use the device. Mr. Bettwy says that use will
establish his device as the new standard and will require private facilities
to use the same system to communicate with the govenment.
He said the decision's impact is "exactly" like the adoption of VHS
standards, making most private use of Beta video systems obsolete.
[But that doesn't mean that VHS is better just because it is the standard]
"I hope that's true," he said of the business implications for Mykotronx.
"We're hoping this will become the new standard."
[Translation: "I hope that's true," he said of the business implications]
[for Mykotronx. "Because were going to reap a lot of cash out of this ]
[bloated hoax of a system. ]
Only compatible phones can receive secure communications from a phone
using a clipper chip.
"To me the real siginificance is if everybody uses this, everybody can
talk to anyone else," Mr. Bettwy said.
[And only the govt. can listen. That makes me feel safe.]
"It creates false hope," Mr. Bryen said.
"The secret key could fall into other people's hands. When you create a
system that has a back door, other people will find the back door."
[Amen. ]
------------ end of article -----------------
The government is making this chip out as a great gift to humanity. This is
really too bad because people are losing quite a bit of privacy with this
new farce the government is trying to pull. I'm writing my congressman tommorrow
to voice my concerns.
Also I'll try to contact the company mentioned in there (in Silver Spring, MD)
to find out information about their chip. I'll post the information here..
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\\\/// Amiga| PGP Key Available | "Those who would give up liberty for
\/// 1200 | by request. | security deserve neither."
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