Micro view. Clipper: soon a de facto standard?

Despite assurances to the contrary, the US government may put its buying power and political muscle into making a de facto commercial standard of the Clipper chip. As a hardware device implanted in telephones, Clipper and its associated key escrow system are designed to ensure the security of electronic communications against private adversaries, while also providing law enforcement and national security agencies with master keys for intercepting and decoding messages.<>