Again from the great Need to Know (20/02/98)

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for you darn kids!" Well, that wasn't *quite* what DTI mandarin NIGEL HICKSON said when he explained the non- appearance of that government statement on crypto this week - but it's what he meant. An announcement was due, he said at the ICX conference on Thursday, but was delayed - thanks to "completely wrong announcements on the Internet". Weird. Surely it would be better to announce it *quicker*, in order to scotch those scurrilous reports? And wasn't it strange that those incorrect tittle-tattlers got the timing of the proposed statement exactly right - as Nigel admitted - even as the DTI were denying it even existed? Never mind. The delay allowed several civil liberty organisations to prepare statements and various news outlets - who would have been taken off-guard by a unannounced statement - to get fully up to speed with the issues. Oh, and it also let a few nasty, scurrilous gossipmongers realise that there *is* something individuals can do about wrongheaded government initiatives before they get cast in stone.

http://www.liberty.org.uk/cacib/crypto.html
- and that goes for your darn mutt, too!