USACM Calls for Clipper Withdrawal (fwd)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 16:35:37 +0000
From: "US ACM, DC Office" <usacm_dc@acm.org>
To: "usacm_dc@acm.org" <distribution.list@acm.org>
Subject: USACM Calls for Clipper Withdrawal

                              
                              U S A C M

 Association for Computing Machinery, U.S. Public Policy Committee

                          * PRESS  RELEASE *
 
Thursday, June 30, 1994	

Contact: 
Barbara Simons (408) 463-5661, simons@acm.org (e-mail)
Jim Horning  (415) 853-2216, horning@src.dec.com (e-mail)
Rob Kling (714) 856-5955, kling@ics.uci.edu (e-mail)


     COMPUTER POLICY COMMITTEE CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF CLIPPER 

            COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY "TOO IMPORTANT" FOR 
                     SECRET DECISION-MAKING

     WASHINGTON, DC ��The public policy arm of the oldest and 
largest international computing society today urged the White 
House to withdraw the controversial "Clipper Chip" encryption 
proposal.  Noting that the "security and privacy of electronic 
communications are vital to the development of national and 
international information infrastructures," the Association for 
Computing Machinery's U.S. Public Policy Committee (USACM) added 
its voice to the growing debate over encryption and privacy 
policy.

     In a position statement released at a press conference on 
Capitol Hill, the USACM said that "communications security is too 
important to be left to secret processes and classified 
algorithms."  The Clipper technology was developed by the National 
Security Agency, which classified the cryptographic algorithm that 
underlies the encryption device.  The USACM believes that Clipper 
"will put U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage in the global 
market and will adversely affect technological development within 
the United States."   The technology has been championed by the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NSA, which claim that 
"non-escrowed" encryption technology threatens law enforcement and 
national security.

     "As a body concerned with the development of government 
technology policy, USACM is troubled by the process that gave rise 
to the Clipper initiative," said Dr. Barbara Simons, a computer 
scientist with IBM who chairs the USACM.  "It is vitally important 
that privacy protections for our communications networks be 
developed openly and with full public participation."

     The USACM position statement was issued after completion of a 
comprehensive study of cryptography policy sponsored by the ACM 
(see companion release).  The study, "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: 
Issues in U.S Crypto Policy," was prepared by a panel of experts 
representing various constituencies involved in the debate over 
encryption.

     The ACM, founded in 1947, is a 85,000 member non-profit 
educational and scientific society dedicated to the development 
and use of information technology, and to addressing the impact of 
that technology on the world's major social challenges.  USACM was 
created by ACM to provide a means for presenting and discussing 
technological issues to and with U.S. policymakers and the general 
public.  For further information on USACM, please call (202) 298-
0842.

   =============================================================


       USACM Position on the Escrowed Encryption Standard


The ACM study "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: Issues in U.S Crypto 
Policy" sets forth the complex technical and social issues 
underlying the current debate over widespread use of encryption.  
The importance of encryption, and the need for appropriate 
policies, will increase as networked communication grows.  
Security and privacy of electronic communications are vital to  
the development of national and international information 
infrastructures.

The Clipper Chip, or "Escrowed Encryption Standard" (EES) 
Initiative, raises fundamental policy issues that must be fully 
addressed and publicly debated.  After reviewing the ACM study, 
which provides a balanced discussion of the issues, the U.S. 
Public Policy Committee of ACM (USACM) makes the following 
recommendations.

  1.  The USACM supports the development of public policies and 
technical standards for communications security in open forums in 
which all stakeholders -- government, industry, and the public -- 
participate.  Because we are moving rapidly to open networks, a 
prerequisite for the success of those networks must be standards 
for which there is widespread consensus, including international 
acceptance.  The USACM believes that communications security is 
too important to be left to secret processes and classified 
algorithms.  We support the principles underlying the Computer 
Security Act of 1987, in which Congress expressed its preference 
for the development of open and unclassified security standards.

  2.  The USACM recommends that any encryption standard adopted by 
the U.S. government not place U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage 
in the global market or adversely affect technological development 
within the United States.  Few other nations are likely to adopt a 
standard that includes a classified algorithm and keys escrowed 
with the U.S. government.

  3.  The USACM supports changes in the process of developing 
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) employed by the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology.  This process is 
currently predicated on the use of such standards solely to 
support Federal procurement.  Increasingly, the standards set 
through the FIPS process directly affect non-federal organizations 
and the public at large.  In the case of the EES, the vast 
majority of comments solicited by NIST opposed the standard, but 
were openly ignored.  The USACM recommends that the standards 
process be placed under the Administrative Procedures Act so that 
citizens may have the same opportunity to challenge government 
actions in the area of information processing standards as they do 
in other important aspects of Federal agency policy making.

  4.  The USACM urges the Administration at this point to withdraw 
the Clipper Chip proposal and to begin an open and public review 
of encryption policy.  The escrowed encryption initiative raises 
vital issues of privacy, law enforcement, competitiveness and 
scientific innovation that must be openly discussed.

  5.  The USACM reaffirms its support for privacy protection and 
urges the administration to encourage the development of 
technologies and institutional practices that will provide real 
privacy for future users of the National Information 
Infrastructure.