Govt wants to read your e-mail

[Christian Claborne <claborne@CYBERTHOUGHT.com>]

In case you haven't heard....


"AN ALLIANCE OF 11 SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE
COMPANIES HAS JUST ANNOUNCED ITS FORMATION
TO DEVELOP KEY-RECOVERY SOLUTIONS FOR
ELECTRONIC ENCRYPTION, a crucial component of the
Clinton administration's latest plan to loosen the export of
encryption technology.  Announced yesterday, the administration's
plan gives exporters of encryption or encrypted software a two-
year window starting Jan. 1, 1997, to build what the
administration calls 'key recovery' into their products.  [The
alliance will] develop systems that will give the [U.S.] government
what it wants, which is access to suspicious encrypted messages,
so that compliant software companies will be able to get export
licenses for hard-to-crack encryption codes.  . . .

" 'The fact that 56-bit DES [a type of encryption] will be
available from significant sources is going to jump-start electronic
commerce,' said Ken Kay, executive director of the Computer
Systems Policy Project, a public policy group comprised of 12
computer industry CEOs.  . . .  While Gore directly stated
yesterday that domestic use of encryption will remain
unregulated, the double standard for domestic and international
products might discourage U.S. companies from developing two
different versions, leaving U.S. and Canadian customers with the
same products that the federal government has deemed safe to
ship overseas." ["C/Net" Oct. 2; also covered by "Reuter" and
"Dow Jones"]

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