Building in Big Brother: The Cryptographic Policy Debate

The announcement of the Clipper chip by the U.S. Government in April 1993 set off a frenzy of discussions about cryptography policy in the technological community. The shock waves from it ultimately included front page treatment in The New York Times, repeated questions to the Vice President, creation of several new newsgroups on the Internet, and some very productive public discussions about striking the balance between national security, law enforcement, and civil liberties. We still don'...