Subject: House Members Demand an End to "Key Escrow" and Crypto Export Regs
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PRESS RELEASE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
http://www.eff.org/
1550 Bryant St., Ste. 725
May 17, 1996 San Francisco CA 94103 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (v) * +1 415 436 9993 (f)
Contacts:
Lori Fena, Executive Dir. * lori@eff.org * +1 415 436 9333
Shari Steele, Counsel (legal queries) * ssteele@eff.org * +1 301 375 8856
John Gilmore, Co-Founder (technical queries) * gnu@eff.org
EFF commends a diverse group of twenty-seven U.S. Representatives
who on Wednesday signed and sent a letter to President Clinton, urging
the Administration to abandon "key escrow" schemes and immediately
liberalize export controls on encryption programs and products. (A copy of
the letter is appended to this press release.)
The old Cold War model of regulating encryption as a "munition" is obsolete
in a world where electronic security and privacy affect everyone's daily
life.
Increased Congressional interest in this issue underscores EFF's position
that encryption "key escrow" systems fail to serve the interests of
individuals and businesses. Problems with "key escrow" include:
* inadequate security from unauthorized eavesdropping on personal &
commercial electronic communications;
* annual losses of billions of U.S. dollars to industrial espionage and
online fraud;
* harm to U.S. software providers, who cannot compete in
the global market for security products with the insecure "key
escrow" offerings the Administration has pushed; and
* overly-broad extensions to law enforcement and intelligence
surveillance authority, with alarming accountability loopholes
EFF believes that the deregulation of encryption is necessary to
facilitate private communications as well as the expansion of U.S.
commerce to online channels and international markets. Encryption is
the envelope for the digital age.
Several of the signatories, including Representatives Robert Goodlatte and
Anna Eshoo, have either introduced or expressed support for recent House
legislation which would ease the current restrictive controls on encryption
export, and which takes steps to prevent the creation of a mandatory
"key escrow" system (in which all users' private encryption keys are
held by third parties for the convenience of government agents.)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit civil liberties
organization working in the public interest to protect privacy, free
expression, and access to public resources and information in new media.
Internet Security Day: EFF, CDT and over 25 other organizations will hold
a day-long educational event in California's Silicon Valley in July. The
"Internet Security Day" will bring together industry leaders, members of
Congress, encryption experts and others to discuss the need to reform U.S.
encryption policy. Similar events, to be held throughout the U.S. and on
the Net, are also being planned. Other sponsors of the event include
Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW), Americans for Tax Reform, AT&T,
Pacific Telesis, America On-Line, Netscape, the Business Software
Alliance, the Software Publishers Association, and several others.
The Golden Key Campaign: EFF and other civil liberties groups ask that a
key-and-envelope logo be displayed to show support for the essential
human right of privacy. This fundamental building block of free society
has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the constitutions and laws
of many countries, and the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. Both the key
and the envelope symbolize historic means for communicating privately
and protecting personal and commercial information. Today, only encryption
tools can provide this privacy in the electronic world.
Web Sites for More Information
Golden Key Campaign: http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html
The US encryption policy debate: http://www.crypto.com
http://www.privacy.org/ipc
Privacy & encryption--technical & legal issues: http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy
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TEXT OF LETTER FROM HOUSE MEMBERS TO PRESIDENT CLINTON
Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515
May 15, 1996
The Honorable William J. Clinton
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to ask you not to proceed with your Administration's key
escrow encryption policy proposal and instead to immediately liberalize
export controls on non-key escrow encryption programs and products.
Many of us have sponsored H.R. 3011, the "Security and Freedom
Though Encryption (SAFE) Act" which would ensure the continued
ability of Americans to use and sell good encryption and would permit
the export of generally available software with encryption capabilities
and other such software and hardware under license when certain
conditions are met. We understand that the Administration has developed
a key escrow encryption proposal and is not at this time willing to ease
export restrictions on encryption programs and products which are widely
available from domestic and foreign companies and the Internet.
We share the concerns of a wide range of businesses and privacy interests
that a key escrow approach will not adequately address security concerns.
The ability of companies and individuals to ensure that the information they
send over communications and computer networks is secure is a prerequisite
to exploiting the potential of the Global Information Infrastructure. For
example, U.S. small businesses are beginning to harness the Internet to enter
foreign markets. The Internet in effect lowers the barriers to entry for
these companies. But they will not be able to rely on the Internet if their
information is not secure.
We also have serious concerns about the impact of the Administration's
policy on the U.S. economy and job creation. (Indeed, it is our strong
belief the U.S. economic interests must be a primary consideration in
encryption policy discussions with other countries, the OECD, and in
other forums. It is not clear that this has been the case in the
discussions held up to this point).
A recent report entitled "A Study of the International Market for
Computer Software With Encryption" prepared by the U.S. Department of
Commerce and the National Security Agency indicated that U.S. companies
will lose market share given the availability of stronger encryption
products overseas. The Computer Systems Policy Project estimates that
unless the U.S. relaxes out-of-date export controls, the U.S.
technology industry will lose $60 billion in revenues and 200,000 jobs by
the year 2000.
As Congress begins to consider H.R. 3011 we would greatly appreciate
knowing whether the Administration plans to publish a final rule
implementing a key escrow encryption proposal or, alternatively, will
relax export controls on encryption programs and products which do not
have a key escrow feature.
Sincerely,
Tom Campbell Bob Goodlatte
Anna Eshoo Eliot Engel
Zoe Lofgren Bob Barr
Carlos Moorhead Patricia Schroeder
Barney Frank Sam Gejdenson
Howard Coble Rick Boucher
Fred Heineman Sonny Bono
Vernon Ehlers Randy Cunningham
Charlie Norwood Randy Tate
Donald Manzullo Helen Chenoweth
Thomas Davis Roscoe Bartlett
Sam Farr Ken Calvert
Linda Smith Joseph Moakley
Lynn Woolsey
[end letter]
The text of Rep. Goodlatte's press release is available online at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/hr_crypto_960515.letter
(along with a copy of the letter).
