Jack Straw on the 'Today' programme

[Roger Bisson]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> [mailto:ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk]On Behalf Of Ian Miller
> Sent: 28 September 2001 08:55
> To: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> Subject: Jack Straw on the 'Today' programme
>
>
> Jack Straw has just been interviewed on the BBC4 Today programme.  After
> talking untypically good sense on his recent round of diplomacy, he
> finished off with a rant against the press for daring to criticise his
> efforts to regulate encryption, suggesting it was this that prevented
> catching the WTC terrorists before they struck.  He also seemed to be
> assuming that, in the light of recent events, we would all agree with him
> now.
>

To regulate encryption, what would the government have to do, and what
additional red-tape might the computer industry be subject to?

Presumably, file formats, compression algorithms, protocols --- everything
that might conceivably be transmitted from one computer to another via the
internet (or possibly corporate internal networks) would be subject to
government scrutiny and registration.

As I see it, the only way to 'regulate encryption' to possibly prevent
terrorists talking to each other is to make the Internet smaller, and
provide inter-country gateways which only let certain certificated content
through.

This may be in the interests of governments not so much in terms of
terrorist activity, but revenue generating -- quite a few governments have,
over the last few years, been wrestling with taxation issues on the
internet.

> It sounded to me very like he was diverging from his script, and
> expressing
> his own personal frustration, so we shouldn't assume it
> necessarily signals
> anything about government policy.  Albeit he is probably saying the same
> sort of nonsense in cabinet.

Roger