The risks associated with the compromise or misuse of keys will be negligible. Thus, key escrow will not degrade encryption’s capability to protect against crime on the information superhighway, only its capability to conceal crime.
Predictor: Denning, Dorothy
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Dorothy Denning writes about the government’s plan to adopt the Clipper Chip, a growing Internet marketplace and the risk of emerging computer criminals: ”In adopting a new encryption standard, the government recognized that if it adopted a strong algorithm that precluded government access, the standard would almost certainly be used by criminals to the detriment of society. This outcome was considered unacceptable, and key escrow was seen as the best solution. Although no system is 100 percent risk free, Clipper’s key-escrow system has been designed with extensive safeguards that parallel those used to protect some of the country’s most sensitive information. In my assessment, the risks associated with the compromise or misuse of keys will be negligible. Thus, key escrow will not degrade encryption’s capability to protect against crime on the information superhighway, only its capability to conceal crime.”
Biography:Dorothy Denning was a professor and chair of Computer Science at Georgetown University in the 1990s, by which time she had been in the field of computer security and cryptography for two decades. Previous to her arrival at GU, she worked at Digital Equipment Corporation, SRI International and Purdue University. Her books include “Cryptography and Data Security” and “Information Warfare and Security.” She authored many Internet research studies. She was the first president of the International Association for Cryptologic Research. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: December 13, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Journal of Criminal Justice Education
Title, headline, chapter name: Crime and Crypto on the Information Superhighway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.cs.georgetown.edu/~dennning/crypto/Crime-and-Crypto.txt
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney