SPA Press Release

[mulivor@crc.monroecc.edu]

I recently received this press release from the Software Publishers 
Association. It gets better as it goes on.

--Phil Mulivor
mulivor@orion.crc.monroecc.edu

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 06/04 1018  SPA RENEWS CALL FOR LIBERALIZING EXPORT CONTROLS

WASHINGTON (JUNE 4) IDG PR SERVICE - At a National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) hearing Thursday on national
cryptographic policies, the Software Publishers Association (SPA)
explained how continued "munitions" export controls of mass market
software with encryption capabilities were seriously harming the
American software industry and renewed its call for significant export
liberalization of mass market software using DES or other encryption
algorithms such as RC2/RC4 at comparable strengths.
   SPA also warned that the Administration's recent announcement of
its "Clipper Chip" initiative did not address the software industry's
concerns and should not be an excuse to delay export liberalization.
   The SPA announced the preliminary results of its recent research
which reveal a robust and rapidly expanding foreign market in
encryption programs and products.  "Unilateral US export controls do
not make any sense given the widespread legal availability of foreign
encryption programs," testified Ilene Rosenthal, SPA's general
counsel. "Foreign companies will buy foreign encryption products if
they cannot buy from American companies and in turn become ex-US
customers.  As a result, the U.S. Government will only succeed in
crippling an American industry's exporting ability."
   The SPA research team preliminary concluded that:
   - The US no longer dominates the encryption field.  In fact, the
SPA has identified to date more foreign than domestic encryption
programs and products (143 vs. 133).
   - There clearly are many foreign options for strong encryption,
contrary to assertions by the U.S. government.  SPA has preliminarily
identified to date 80 foreign software, hardware, and combination
hardware/software products for text, data, and file encryption from
companies in 13 foreign countries.  Forty-eight of these employ DES,
which is nearly impossible to export from the U.S. in other than very
rare circumstances.  Sixty-three additional foreign encryption
programs and products have been identified (including those from an
additional five countries) but have yet to be investigated.  However,
SPA believes many of these also will be found to employ DES or other
comparable strength encryption algorithms.
   - Fifteen foreign mass market encryption software programs and kits
are available that employ the DES algorithm.  These are published by
companies in Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada,
Belgium, and Australia.  These software programs are installed by the
user inserting a diskette; the kits enable encryption capabilities to
be easily programmed into a variety of applications.
   - Foreign companies increasingly recognize and are responding to
the need to provide software only encryption solutions.  Although the
foreign encryption market is still heavily weighted towards encryption
hardware and hardware/software combinations, the market trend is going
to software.
   The SPA noted that in addition to these commercially available
programs and products, any analysis of the availability of foreign
encryption alternatives must consider programs available on the
Internet, which is the largest global network connecting millions of
users throughout the world.
   - DES is widely available on the Internet, including
implementations that can be simply down-loaded and used.
   - A recently popularized encryption program entitled Pretty Good
Privacy (PGP) also is widely available throughout the world.  PGP
implements the International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA), which
provides protection comparable to DES.  The program is intended for
electronic mail, but also is ideal for encrypting files.  It is
available for free, may be used legally throughout Europe, whether in
a business or at home, comes with easy-to-read instructions, is
trivial to install, and simple to use.
   "Some government officials routinely assert that even if the
Government prohibits America's software publishers from offering
encryption features demanded by their customers abroad, we should not
be concerned because there are foreign programs and products
available," said Ken Wasch, SPA's executive director.  "Our reseach
shows that such an assertion is erroneous.  In fact, there are a very
large number of such programs and products available on the market
today.  The result is lost sales for American business without any
improvement in national security."
   The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade
association of the PC software industry.  Its more than 1000 members
represent the leading publishers in the business, consumer, and
education markets.  The SPA has offices in Washington and Paris,
France.

CONTACT: Software Publishers Association, Washington
         Terri Childs, 202/452-1600