Support for crypto bills is building

[John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>]

[From FARNET's Washington Update. This is interesting principally for the 
note about the number of co-sponsors.]

SEN. BURNS' ENCRYPTION BILL TO BE INTRODUCED BY END OF NEXT WEEK

The third encryption bill aimed at blowing the administration's key-escrow
policy out of the water is set for introduction probably late next week.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) will introduce a bill that is similar to both the
Leahy and Goodlatte bills already in the Senate and House, respectively.
Both prohibit a mandatory key-escrow system for the use of encryption in
the United States.  Both also significantly lift export restrictions on
encryption software and hardware.  (Export approval would be granted for
any bit length that is already generally available in foreign markets.
Current policy restricts the export of  encryption hardware or software
products with keys greater than 40 bits long.)

Hill staff said yesterday that they saw strong support for the encryption
bills forming in both houses.  Thirty-eight co-sponsors have signed on to
the Goodlatte bill in the House so far.  The Burns bill is expected to
garner the support of Sen. Leahy who also has a bill in the Senate.

The House bill has been referred to the Judiciary committee and may be also
referred to the House Committee on International Relations.  The Senate
expects to hold hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee sometime in June.
While proponents are working to get the bill(s) passed this year, because
of the elections this fall, it will be a tight schedule.  Furthermore, the
bills' supporters are trying to keep the three pieces of legislation from
being referred to any of the intelligence or law enforcement committees
where some of the strongest opposition is likely to arise.

Strong encryption is generally regarded as extremely important to the
success of electronic communications.  The Clinton administration's various
proposals for strict export restrictions and a mandatory key-escrow system
have met with significant opposition from industry, privacy groups and
netizens alike.  Just this week, a court in California ruled that "source
code" for encryption programs is speech, and therefore protected under the
First Amendment.  The case came at the instigation of a programmer who was
forbidden to place his source code for an encryption program that he had
developed on the Internet in order to get discussion on its merits from his
colleagues.  The ruling was just a preliminary step in order to continue
with the case.  It could, however, clear the way for the overruling of
export restrictions on encryption source code.