As the Administration sticks to the principle of key escrow but is willing to adjust the details, and as businesses begin to think about what kind of encryption they want, we’re likely to see a certain amount of convergence on this issue and I suspect it will make a difference in the export control laws over the next year or two.
Predictor: Baker, Stewart
Prediction, in context:As a member of a special panel at a policy debate on the Clipper Chip sponsored in January 1995 by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Stewart Baker was asked to discuss the question “Are Clipper and the key escrow initiative needed?” He replied: ”The idea of escrow and the concerns of the effect of encryption have slowly sunk in among the people who are going to buy encryption in the end, which is businesses. Businesses have exactly the same intention in their approach to encryption as the government has. They want good security but they don’t want it misused. So I suspect that as this goes forward, as the Administration sticks to the principle of key escrow but is willing to adjust the details, and as businesses begin to think about what kind of encryption they want, we’re likely to see a certain amount of convergence on this issue and I suspect it will make a difference in the export control laws over the next year or two.”
Biography:Stewart Baker was described by The Washington Post (Nov. 20, 1995) as “one of the most techno-literate lawyers around.” Baker’s Washington, D.C., practice covered issues relating to digital commerce, electronic surveillance, encryption, privacy, national security and export controls. (Legislator/Politician/Lawyer.)
Date of prediction: January 19, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Clipper Chip Debate at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Title, headline, chapter name: The Cipper Chip: Should the Government Control the Master Keys to Electronic Commerce?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://swissnet.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/clipper/ny-debate-jan-19-95.txt
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Beckett, Angela