
I must admit that this point has been running through my mind for most of
the discussion: one the dice are out there, it won't be long before someone
decaps it and, after a bit of work, has full details of the Clipper
algorythm.  This isn't trivial to do, but then again, it is not impossibly
difficult either.  Any half way decent VLSI design student should be able
to take a photograph of a technology s/he is familiar with, and given a
description of the input, output, control and supply lines, figure out 
the function of various subsystems on the die.  Indeed, this is not an
uncommon exercise performed during training (because it makes you think
about design decisions made by other designers.

I could speculate that these chips are going to be manufactured using
"tamperproof" carriers (unlikely - such techniques are *very* expensive
and this thing is supposed to be relatively cheap to produce), or that
there will be some legal or legislative framework to prevent publication
of the algorythm (unlikely - please correct me if I am wrong but aren't these
supposed to be sold internationally?).  I suppose that the most likely
reason the algorythm is remaining secret for the moment is that some idiot
bureaucrat, untrammeled by the realities of the situation, decided that
"well, we should keep it a secret because it is supposed to be secret,
isn't it?"

Just some random thoughts...
