Steve Bellovin writes a well-thought-out and nearly persuasive article about
why the Clipper (are we still calling it Clipper today, or have they figured
out a non-infringing word yet?) protocol is almost as good as one can do
given their marching ordes.


I'll accept the second assumption only for the sake of argument.  In my
view the primary remaining flaw is that the encryption algorithm is
secret, leading to suspicion that there is a back door.  Without complete
disclosure this suspicion cannot be dispelled, no matter how many trusted
experts are allowed to look at it in isolation.

Is it possible to do this whole thing with a public algorithm?  The only
concern I've seen with making Skipjack public is that someone could build
Clipperphones without registering the keys.  Assume F can really be kept
secret as the Government assumes.  Then as part of the initial connection,
a Clipperphone executes a protocol with the Pseudophone to demonstrate
that they both know F.  For example, the initiating phone picks a number Q
and sends E[Q; F].  The receiver sends back E[Q+1; F], and the initiator
sends back E[Q+2; F] to demonstrate that her first packet wasn't just a
random 64-bit block.  Repeat in the opposite direction with another Q so
it can't be defeated by somebody building up a library of sequential
numbers by remembering responses and using those responses as the initial
numbers of subsequent challenges.  This way Clipperphones will talk only
to other Clipperphones.  Of course the Pseudo Company can build their own
proprietary Skipjack phone, but the Presidential Fact Sheet implies that
they won't get approval for it without equivalent key escrow.

What's wrong with this picture?  It depends of F staying secret and on
Skipjack being resistant to cryptanalysis, but the Government appears to
believe in both of these.  Even if the particular Q&A I suggest has some
flaw, I imagine there's a zero-knowledge-proof protocol that doesn't.


Agreed.  My view, and you can quote me: if it's not worth doing, it's
not worth doing well.