Fear of an Encrypted Planet -- In response to Brady Johnson's first installment on computer crime in NetBITS-005, Edward Reid <edward@paleo.greensboro.fl.us> responds to a point on key escrow:

Key escrow arose in response to regulatory agencies' fear of being unable to decode private messages, especially encrypted telephone conversations. There's absolutely no issue of interest to the general public which key escrow addresses. In fact, the major related issue of public concern is privacy - which key escrow diminishes. Whether key escrow is a reasonable response to the regulatory agencies' concerns is a separate question.