ILF: Encryption Plan Gets Gov't Nod

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Reproduced without permission from Communications Week

Encryption Plan Gets Gov't Nod

 By Sharon Fisher


WASHINGTON    Encryption users and industry observers have said
they are unhappy with the Clinton administration's endorsement of
a comprehensive interagency review of cryptographic technology.

 The review was initiated last April and overseen by the Na- tional
Security Council. It was scheduled to have been complet- ed by
mid-October of last year.

 As part of the Feb. 4 release of the report, the administration
said it has approved the Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES) as
a voluntary Federal In- formation Processing Standard.

 The EES, known as both the Clipper proposal and Skipjack, was
announced last April.

 The administration also said that the National Institute of Stan-
dards and Technology and the Automated Services Division of the
Treasury Department would be charged with storing the escrowed
keys. The procedures for gaining access to the keys were also
announced.

 The ESS proposal has been heavily citicized because of
the escrow proposal, which gives law enforcement agencies access
to the encryption keys via a warrantmuch like a wiretap. Industry
observers have said an algoithm with such keys is inherently
insecure. They voiced concern at the government's plans to keep
the algorithm classified (Comm Week, Jan. 3).

 Critics said the ESS is a first step toward outlawing
other forms of cryptog raphy, but the administration reiterated at
the announcement that it had no such intention.

 Industry groups such as the Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, both based
here, immediately launched grassroots protests against the
announcements. Both groups have citicized the proposal since it
was first announced. -