r illegal purposes, and the FBI and NSA are believed to be unable to crack this code. When told about the illegal uses of his program, Zimmerman replied, "If I had invented an automobile, and was told that criminals used it to rob banks, I would feel bad, too. But most people agree the benefits to society that come from automobiles -- taking the kids to school, grocery shopping and such -- outweigh their drawbacks". Data Encryption Standard The government has not been totally blind for the need of encryption. For nearly two decades, a government sponsored algorithm, Data Encryption Standard (DES), has been used primarily by banks. The government has always maintained the ability to decipher this code with their powerful supercomputers. Now that new forms of encryption have been devised that the government cannot decipher, they are proposing a new standard to replace DES. Clipper Chips This new standard is called Clipper, and is based on the "public key" algorithms. Instead of software, Clipper is a microchip that can be incorporated into just about anything (Television, Telephones, etc.). This algorithm uses a much longer key that is 16 million times more powerful than DES. It is estimated that today's fastest computers would take 400 billion years to break this code using every possible key (Lehrer 378). The catch: At the time of manufacture, each Clipper chip will be loaded with its own unique key, and the Government gets to keep a copy, placed in escrow. Not to worry though, the Government promises that they will use these keys to read your traffic only when duly authorized by law. Of course, to make Clipper completely effective, the next logical step would be to outlaw other forms of cryptography. If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. Intelli...
