Clipper

• Designed by the NSA: “For telephones only”

• Authorized by classified Clinton directive in April 1993 (publicly announced only that they were evaluating it). Standards released in Feb. 1994

• “Voluntary” (but government will buy only Clipper phones)

• Built-in (“back door”) key that is split: each half held by a different government agency

• Encryption algorithm classified: Clipper chips must be tamperproof and therefore expensive

• Clipper phones do not interoperate with non-Clipper phones

• “Capstone” chip for computer data and communications

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