The present status of our technology makes privacy laws obsolete because it deals with telephones only. As today's technology grew, it becomes too complicated to safeguard communications between businesses and people. Communication through the modem is a vulnerable way of sharing thoughts or ideas. It is complicated because Washington had one opinion of the Clipper Chip and business and the private sector had another. The business and private sectors wanted to translate all conversations - voice and data - to code. The government is impeding this idea because drug dealers, terrorists, and criminals would use it. Law enforcement would become helpless because when spying they would not understand conversation between criminals. The government wants the Clipper chip because it can decrypt messages and understand them.

In this situation, I would boldly set the Clipper chip as the standard of encryption because it would be beneficial to law enforcement agencies. I would accomplish this by implementing a process by which law enforcement can eavesdrop on phone lines. The process should involve accountability on the part of law enforcement which would be approved by the private sector. Privacy laws pertaining to technology should be updated. They should protect people from useless wire tapping.

The encryption debate of '93 was the spark that ignited the ideas of data security in communications on the internet because of dislike of the idea of the Clipper and Capstone. This link Clipper chip more about the Clipper chip. The Clipper chip is a micro-chip produced by the government which encrypts messages for the digital telephone. Capstone is a computer version of the Clipper chip. Both use a skip-jack encryption system which may become the standard of encryption for the United States government. The reason the government developed this technology was to reduce fears of technology for the purpose of law enforcement and protecting national security. Without the standardization of the encryption system the government became worried about national security. It worried that criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists will communicate by computers: encrypting a messages with a different encryption program. This terrified the government because it would be helpless due to a different encryption method. The government then began selling the idea of the Clipper and Capstone chip by commenting that it will secure data from computer hackers, but the idea of the "backdoor" was disliked by the private sector because it would be readily available to the government when needed. This resulted in the disapproval of the Clipper chip. The private sector believed that if the "backdoor" was easily accessible then the power abuse of eavesdropping and computer hacking possible with the Clipper chip will occur frequently. Encryption debates are going on because they are thinking of their privacy as the most important value. This link about encryption debate will a example of the actual debate. The private sector believes that other encryption methods are better, because it will allow them with more privacy. The law enforcement will be hurt because enforcing the law will be very tough. We should trust the government and have the Clipper Chip as the standard of encryption.

Perfect privacy has several factors that would endanger the law enforcement and national security. Thus, it would affect you negatively.

1. Law enforcement agencies would be helpless. The law enforcement must have the power investigate crimes in order to enforce the law and gain information to help prevent future crime. But with perfect privacy, investigations might not get adequate information to convict a person or to find a suspect. For example, if a law enforcement agency felt that a large drug shipment is coming to the Dallas-Ft Worth area involving certain drug dealers then they would eavesdrop on their conversations. When they heard the conversation and could not understand the conversation, the message was encrypted, and the law enforcement could not break the code. As a result, the law enforcement does not know the place and time of the drug shipment. As you can see that perfect privacy would inherently destroy the law enforcement purposes.

2. Due to the lack of information, law enforcement can not effectively prevent catastrophic events. The DEA are able to stop drug shipments only because they get information from tapping phone lines and other sources. Perfect privacy will tighten the source of information which the DEA will work with in the future. Due to this fact, the DEA would not have a chance to stop the illegal drug shipments, because the DEA will have no information to follow due to the encrypted messages of the drug lords. In the global scene, law enforcement would have a terrible time dealing with terrorists. If terrorist bomb a city or building the law enforcement would have a hard time finding the people responsible. Thus, criminals will go free if crimes were committed in the absence of video cameras or tape recorders. Drug shipments and bombings are preventable events. Also, after the event, similar events could be stopped from occurring because we would apprehend the people responsible. This would deter others from doing the same thing.

3. National security would be endangered due to this lack of control. The government needs access to communications, voice or data, which they can understand by listening or deciphering because some information may be deadly in the wrong hands, like the Iraqi government. During the "RED SCARE" of the 1980's, many spies were caught transferring the United States's information to their home country. They were able to catch the spies because they had more control in the situation than today. We should be aware of the "RED SCARE" because it is still relevant in our time.

The government should appoint two or three agencies that would help to oversee the process which would allow law enforcement agencies to eavesdrop an people in suspicion. The congress should update privacy laws concerning technological advances in communication. The laws will protect the people from the abuses of the government. If the government follows my suggestion then the private sector would gladly accept Clipper chip technology. In the following, I will describe the process that I propose as the solution to this dilemma of perfect privacy.

The law enforcement would have no way of deciphering messages. The only way is to fill out a request form which ask for a name and reasons for the request. The request form is read by the court who will then use it to make a court order. Then they send it to three key escrow agencies. Each agency will vote on the court order, and send a reply of "yes" or "no" to the court. If the court receives a majority of "yes" then the law enforcement agency will be permitted access to the "backdoor" to decipher a message which may be in voice or data. The court official will type the name on the request form into the computer which allows access to the "backdoor". The court official will monitor the law enforcement agency for the purpose of knowing when they are done. The monitoring will be done by Clipper's backdoor on law enforcement. When they are done, the court official will shut off access. As the access is shut off, the computer will be frozen, and the rebooting is the only way of unfreezing it. This will facilitate the idea that law enforcement uses the access for the purpose which he had said in the request form.

By compromising with the private sector, the Clipper technology can be accepted by both sides.

First, the private sector can have the level of privacy which can satisfy them. The process of obtaining access to the "backdoor" would assure the private sector that the abuse of power would not occur frequently.

Second, while the private sector is satisfied, the government will be satisfied with the implementation of the Clipper technology. They will be able to uphold the law and law enforcement will be useful, and national security will be safe.

Finally, the privacy laws concerning the technological advances of communications were updated. The people will be protected from the government because the law will state the powers that it can and can not do.

In compromising the access of the Clipper chip's "backdoor", the Clipper chip technology would be able to be standardized in the United States. The level of privacy would be satisfactory to the private sector, while the government would be able to decipher certain communications for the sake of law enforcement purposes.

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