Clipper Chip

The Clipper chip is a proposal by the administration to develop a standard encryption technology for use in the United States. The chip would contain a "back door" that would allow a third party to decrypt the user's messages. The special chip would be used in phones, cell phones, email, and other electronic transmissions.

The first Clipper chip proposal was announced in April 1993, it was defeated by a colition of interests. The proposal would have made clipper the encryption standard within the government, so that any product used by the government would have to use it. Anyone who wanted to use secure communications with the government (for example renew your driver's license) would of course also have to use this standard. Many think that this sort of market pressure will inevitably make Clipper the industry standard. The original proposal also drew fire for the vagueness of its "back door" key handling mechanism. Proposals ranged from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to the Treasury Department. Also once someone had your key they wouldn't need any another court order to listen again (because the same "back door" key would stay with the same phone for the life ). Finally it seemed unlikely to computer industry interests that countries all over the would want to buy encryption technology that the US could access at will.

Later ammendments to the proposal promised to break the key into two seperate keys to be held by two different escrow organisations and to develop some system whereby the key would be destroyed when a law enforcement agency's authority to monitor a phone expired.

The "Clipper II" proposal followed in 1995, it would have raised legally exportable encryption from 40 bit-key to 64 bit-key if the item had a back door key for the government. Article by Peter Lewis on the Clipper II proposal.

Most recently, just three weeks ago on May 20th, the administration has introduced "Clipper III." In this proposal "users would register their keys with a world-wide network of government bodies that would track encryption keys and verify the identities of companies and individuals using encryption." Once the system of key authenticating and the system for escrowing keys is in place, the administration would eliminate the key length restriction on exports.White House reviving clipper plan - Clipper III

Text of Memorandum - Clipper III

Clipper Archive at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Denning-Barlow Clipper Chip Debate