[In general I agree with Charles about the risks here, but if the Clinton administration's policy was key escrow (and it was), Scott would have been bound to support it in public no matter what his personal views. Naturally one could respond that anyone with a conscience asked to take that position should resign. :) --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 11:18:11 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <cpat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Cc: politechat_private Subject: Re: FC: Scott Charney, ex-DOJ cybercrime official, decamps to Microsoft Declan, feel free to post this as you wish. My concern about Scott Charney (an amiable man, whom I once talked to for three hours, in an interview that was intended for Wired but was rejected and ended up excerpted in my book ANARCHY ONLINE) is that he was, and presumably still is, an ardent proponent of key escrow. Also of course he must have many friends in DoJ. So, do we look ahead and see "secure" MSoft products with back doors for federal access? Do we imagine MSoft taking precautions to protect itself against future hostile acts from DoJ and state attorneys may still want to dismantle its "monopoly"? Do we envisage MSoft claiming in the future that its surveillance-enabled products will help to protect us from the "terrorist threat"? I was one of those who felt that the attempt to break up Microsoft tended to damage the industry and investor confidence. The conflict between the company and the government was bad for the whole IT business. But a friendly informal ALLIANCE between Microsoft and the federal government would be something else again. --CP ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events: Congreso Nacional de Periodismo Digital in Huesca, Spain from Jan. 17-18 (http://www.congresoperiodismo.com) and the Second International Conference on Web-Management in Diplomacy in Malta from Feb. 1-3. (http://www.diplomacy.edu/Web/conference2/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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