EPIC Files Suit to Obtain C

["Dave Banisar" <banisar@epic.org>]

Per various people's requests, I'm only putting this piece on the list. You
can get the rest of the newsletter at www.epic.org/alert/

-dave

>From the EPIC Alert 2.16

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[2] EPIC Files Suit to Obtain Gov't Crypto Report
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EPIC filed suit on December 4 against the U.S. Department of Commerce
under the Freedom of Information Act to force the release of a survey
conducted by the Department on the foreign availability of encryption
software. According to Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown the study has 
been completed and is being held up by the White House Office of 
Science and Technology Policy and the National Security Agency, the 
two agencies most strongly pushing the Mandatory Key Escrow (MKE) 
initiative.

Observers believe that the report will confirm the existence of a
substantial amount of commercial and free software available from
non-U.S. companies worldwide. An ongoing survey conducted by the
Software Publishers Association has found over 450 products from 27
countries. Of those products, 179 use the U.S. Data Encryption Standard
(DES). The existence of a substantial amount of commercial software
overseas cuts against arguments that export controls on encryption
software should be maintained.

The report was created after Congress decided not to pass legislation
last year that would have relaxed export controls on encryption. 
The legislation would have required the Department of Commerce to 
complete the foreign availability report by April 1995. Although the 
legislation was not enacted, the Commerce Department nonetheless agreed 
to conduct the study.

More information on U.S. Cryptography Policy is available at: 

   http://www.epic.org/crypto/

In a related development EPIC Legal Counsel David Sobel appeared before
the National Institute of Standards and Technology on December 5th to 
offer comments on NIST's "Draft Export for Key Escrow Encryption". Sobel
blasted the latest proposal for Mandatory Key Escrow (MKE) and said that 
the administration continues to ignore the interests of the public.  

EPIC also put forward seven recommendations to reform national 
cryptography policy.  The recommendations follow from a presentation to
the National Research Council earlier this year.  The EPIC Statement on 
the NIST standard and the  EPIC proposal for cryptography policy is 
available at:

  http://www.epic.org/crypto/EPIC_Statement.html
  


_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: EPIC Files Suit to Obtain Crypto...
_________________________________________________________________________
David Banisar (Banisar@epic.org)        *  202-544-9240 (tel)
Electronic Privacy Information Center   *  202-547-5482 (fax)
666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301     *  HTTP://www.epic.org
Washington, DC 20003                    *  ftp/gopher/wais cpsr.org