Clipper Petititon

[James Love <love@essential.org>]

The following is a petition which is being circulated by Computer 
Professionals for Social Responsiblity on the topic of the Clipper Chip.  
The Taxpayer Assets Project is among the many groups and individuals 
which are signing the CPSR petition.
    jamie love, Taxpayer Assets Project


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 18:39:40 EST 
From: Marc Rotenberg <Marc_Rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org>
Subject: Clipper Petititon 

  Clipper Petititon

Friends,

We need your help.  We are trying to stop the
Clipper plan.  

Please read the following information, sign
the petition, and then send this message
to others in your organization.

In two weeks, we've gathered almost 20,000
signatures.  We will need a lot more if we
are going to stop this scheme for "desktop
surveillance."

Thanks for your help,

Marc Rotenberg, director
CPSR Washington office
rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org
  
  ===============================================
  
                  Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper  
                        *Please Distribute Widely*
  
  On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography
  and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to
  withdraw the Clipper proposal.
    
  The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable,
  including coverage in the New York Times and numerous computer and
  security trade magazines.
  
  Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the
  letter.  In  response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an
  Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal.  We will
  deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the
  names of all the people who oppose Clipper.
  
  To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
  
       Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
  
  with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
  
  You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
  
  Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
  their opposition to the Clipper proposal.
  
  CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization.  For
  membership information, please email cpsr@cpsr.org.  For more
  information about Clipper, please consult the CPSR Internet Library -
  FTP/WAIS/Gopher CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper
  
  
  =====================================================================
  
  The President 
  The White House 
  Washington, DC  20500
  
  Dear Mr. President:
  
       We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption
  proposal now under consideration by the White House.  We wish to
  express our concern about this plan and similar technical standards
  that may be proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure.
  
       The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies
  primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy
  protection.  Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus
  beyond public review.
  
       The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous
  opposition to Clipper.  In the formal request for comments conducted
  by the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of
  respondents supported the plan.  Several hundred opposed it.
  
       If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop
  new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers
  who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be
  discouraged.  Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology
  will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations
  unfulfilled.
  
       Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis
  and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable.  The
  government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and
  the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small.  Few
  in the user community believe that the proposal would be truly
  voluntary.
  
       The Clipper proposal should not be adopted.  We believe that if
  this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a
  voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation
  will be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the
  openness necessary to ensure the successful development of the
  nation's communications infrastructure will be threatened.
  
       We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper
  proposal.