Big Day for Crypto: New Bill, New Campaign, New Coalition --------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release May 2, 1996 EFF Helps Plant Seeds of 'Golden Key' Grassroots Campaign For Secure Electronic Communications Electronic Frontier Foundation Contact: Lori Fena, Exec. Dir. +1 (415)436-9333 lori@eff.org Using the symbols of a key and an envelope, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with many other organizations concerned with the security of electronic communication, is helping to spread the word about a new international grassroots campaign promoting online privacy. The purpose of the "Golden Key" Campaign for Private Communications Online is to urge the online community, computer industry, government agencies and lawmakers to support the protection of privacy and security on the rapidly growing Internet * About the Golden Key Campaign for Private & Secure Communications Online Both the key and the envelope symbolize historic means for communicating privately and protecting personal information. Today, encryption tools provide this privacy in the electronic world. "The importance of privacy as a common good in a society which values democracy is not new," said Lori Fena, executive director of EFF. "For the same reasons you would not send a love letter or your credit card number through the mail on the back of a post card, we need to ensure that encryption -- the electronic version of an envelope -- remains widely available and truly useful." The Golden Key Campaign is being launched to raise awareness and support for the preservation of the right to communicate privately and the availability of new techniques which make it possible. Privacy, a fundamental human right, has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the constitutions and laws of many countries, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Privacy must be preserved as we move from paper to electronic communications. EFF is encouraging members of the online community to display the Golden Key logo wherever possible and help educate legislators in the U.S. and abroad about the importance of secure online communication. The logo may be freely obtained and redistributed by downloading any one of the several versions available on EFF's Golden Key site, at http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html - and please link your Golden Key encryption freedom icon to this URL or one of the ones mentioned below (the IPC home page or the Crypto Policy Resource Page). * Recent Events Highlight Importance of Electronic Encryption While security and privacy of communication is an age-old value, recent events in the courts and U.S. Congress (and elsewhere) have brought new attention to the issue. Just today, U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, introduced legislation that would relax export controls on commercial & public domain products containing technologies for privacy, such as encryption. Hearings on the Burns bill are expected to take place in early June. The proposal has already gathered support from a bipartisan coalition in Congress. [There is no bill number as of this writing, but the name of the legislation is the "Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act of 1996".] Two other similar bills, the "Encrypted Communication Privacy Act of 1996 (ECPA96)" (S. 1587) and the "Security And Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Act of 1996" (H.R. 3011), were introduced March 5, by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, and Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-VA, respectively. The texts of these bills and various statements regarding them can be found at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Crypto_bills_1996/ Electronic communication security and export of encryption has also been an important issue in Federal courts recently. In a landmark decision two weeks ago, a U.S. District Judge in San Francisco denied the government's motion to dismiss mathematician Daniel Bernstein's case in which he seeks the ability to freely export his encryption algorithm, "Snuffle." The decision was the first time that a U.S. court recognized software as Constitutionally protected speech. See http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/Bernstein_v_DoS/ for more info. On the down side, a case in some ways similar to Bernstein's - the Phil Karn case - was dismissed with a largely opposite ruling, in a different district. That dismissal is on appeal. And the State Department is even sending legal threat letters to authors of software that does not include encryption capabilities, but only software "hooks" to allow encryption functions to be added. Crypto export overhaul could not come a moment sooner. Outside the US: France, Beligium, Russia and other coutries have cracked down on even the use of encryption, while the United Kingdom is a step closer to imposing an crypto key "escrow" system, in which all users' private keys are duplicated and held by a third party or the government itself, for the conveniece of law enforcement and intelligence agents. For more information see: http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Key_escrow/Foreign_and_local/UK/ Users and organizations abroad are urged to create their own Golden Key resource pages, to inform users in their own areas about crypto-privacy action on the local front. * EFF Joins EPIC, CDT, VTW & Others in Forming Internet Privacy Coalition The Internet Privacy Coalition (IPC) is the first attempt to bring together a broad base of companies, cryptographers and public interest organizations around the central goals of promoting privacy and security on the Internet and urging relaxation of export controls on encryption tools. The coalition is maintaining a web page at http://www.privacy.org/ipc/ The site will serve as a central depository for information and discussion regarding online encryption and secure electronic communication. There is also a sister site that will be of interest, whether you are new to the topic, or an active participant in the debate: the Encryption Policy Resource Page at http://www.crypto.com * The Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit public interest organization devoted to the protection of online privacy and free expression. EFF was founded in 1990, and is based in San Francisco, California. It maintains an archive of information on privacy and cryptography at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ EFF has been involved for several years with the protection of secure and private electronic communication. In 1993-4, EFF and other civil liberties organizations successfully opposed implementation of the U.S. Administration's "Clipper" or "Skipjack" system - hardware encryption for voice and data communications in which all encryption keys are held by government for the convenience of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In 1994, EFF helped ensure that crypto export became a major legislative topic, laying the groundwork for eventual liberalization of the ITARs. In 1994 and 1995 EFF opposed implementation of and helped defeat funding for the FBI's "Digital Telephony" scheme, in which up to one person on every city block could be simultaneously wiretapped in some areas.