http://www.netizen.com/netizen/96/29/campaign_dispatch0a.html HotWired The Netizen "Crypto Storm Warning" Campaign Dispatch by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) Washington, DC, 14 July The Clinton administration escalated its cyber-fearstorm today when a top Justice Department lawyer slammed the Net for "transmitting child pornography into our homes" and for allowing hackers to possibly "shut down the banking system." Jamie Gorelick, the US deputy attorney general, also expanded the administration's plan to ban the domestic use of strong encryption, like Pretty Good Privacy, that the spooks can't crack. "There is a need for access to [encrypted communications] pursuant to court orders for access to keys," Gorelick said at a conference sponsored by the Freedom Forum. "One of our most formidable challenges is to deal with the issue of encryption. What happens when an employee of a company runs off with information and it is encrypted? What happens when someone dies and his files [are encrypted]? What happens when you lose your key?" Gorelick asked. This goes beyond Attorney General Janet Reno's recent calls for domestic key escrow and further than the "Clipper III" white paper the Clinton administration released in May, which was intended to create a new government-run identity-checking system allowing the Feds access to the secret keys of US users. At the same time, Gorelick edged away from the hard-line rhetoric the administration used to defend the Communications Decency Act. "We did advise Congress on the passage of that act that some constitutional questions would be raised," she said. However, she added that there are "many possible grounds" on which the Justice Department could argue this censorship boondoggle is a valid law - despite the recent three-judge panel decision in Philadelphia finding the act unconstitutional. Gorelick's rank as a senior administration official shows that the White House is trotting out its heavy-hitters to slam non-escrowed cryptography just as Congress is holding hearings on the recent Pro-CODE legislation that would effectively lift export controls. "We've been used to lower-level functionary types addressing these issues - White House staff people and representatives from NIST," said David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "That Gorelick, as the number two person in the Justice Department, has increasingly started to talk about these issues indicates that the priority of cyberspace and cyber-rights issues has increased within the administration." Gorelick's cybercondemnations play against a backdrop of political jockeying inside the Justice Department. Reno disclosed last November that she has Parkinson's disease, and Gorelick is her logical successor if Clinton stays in office next term. Gorelick also replaced FBI director Louis Freeh as the administration's chief crypto-critic and front person on the Hill. (In April 1995 Freeh testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that "terrorists communicating over the Internet" represent a problem that must be "dealt with immediately.") But in the wake of the FBI-file flap, Freeh would be laughed off the Hill if he tries to tell Congress: "Trust us - we'll collect your keys but won't read your mail." After Gorelick completed her speech and sat down, I leaned over and asked her: "Could I have your email address?" She didn't know it. "I don't go into it that often," Gorelick said, adding that the Justice Department doesn't use email much, for "security reasons." "Call me and I'll give it to you," she promised. Gosh, what a surprise: The US government's leading spokesperson on the dangers and the evils of the Net doesn't even log in. Copyright 1996 HotWired, Inc. All rights reserved.