House Democrats, ACLU criticize Clinton on crypto stand

[ddt@lsd.com]

There is some value in having a 900-pound software industry gorilla like
NAI pushing at the foolishness of current export policy in a 100% legal
way: it demonstrates to more and more of the citizenry (and business
leaders with influence) just how empty, archaic and damaging to US
interests that the current policies are.

It also gives Loyal Members of the Opposition such as the House Demo's and
the ACLU ample "ammunition" (excuse the expression) to discuss the details
of said Administration foolishness in full public view.

[ Excerpts below from ACLU's CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE 7 April 98           ]
[ for more details, see <http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/updates.html>  ]

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House Democrats Criticize Clinton Position on Encryption

Twelve Democratic members of Congress last week sent a letter to President
Clinton telling him that they "strongly support legislation that would
substantially reform the Administration's export restrictions on
American-made encryption products."

The letter further states that the members are not satisfied with the
Administration's decision to attempt to resolve the current impasse on its
position on encryption by holding meetings with industry rather than
through legislation.

The letter also criticizes the administration's position on encryption
requiring strict restrictions on export of encryption programs despite the
widespread global availability and the impact of such restrictions on
privacy and commerce.

The letter further states:

Two developments in only the last two weeks illustrate the futility in
banning encryption's export or use. Network Associates, the nation's
largest independent maker of computer security software, has announced that
its Dutch subsidiary will sell an international version of its strongest
encryption program. In addition, an MIT scientist, Ronald Rivest, has just
proposed a new technique for securing computer files and communications,
called "chaffing and winnowing," which doesn't involve encryption at all.

The point is that the Administration can hardly control the proliferation
or direction of technology in the digital age. Consequently, the
discussions with industry will succeed only if the Administration commits
itself in these discussions to a major overhaul of its current export
policies and to policies that do not mandate or compel domestic controls on
encryption. Rather, government should recognize that in the coming decades
the protection of our nation's critical infrastructure and national
security interests demand foremost that American industry retain its global
leadership in the digital arena. A strong domestic high-tech industry -- in
cooperation with national security agencies and law enforcement officials
which have been granted sufficient resources by our government for meeting
the challenges of the digital age -- is the foremost priority for ensuring
American security and global leadership in the Information Age."

The letter was signed by the following Members of Congress:

Richard A. Gephardt, M.C.
Zoe Lofgren, M.C.
Vic Fazio, M.C.
Martin Frost, M.C.
Sam Gejdenson, M.C.
John Conyers, Jr., M.C.
Edward J. Markey, M.C.
Anna G. Eshoo, M.C.
Rick Boucher, M.C.
Calvin M. Dooley, M.C.
James P. Moran, M.C.
Adam Smith, M.C.

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ACLU Report Challenges Clinton Scare Tactics on Encryption

Charging that the Clinton Administration is using scare tactics to acquire
vast new powers to spy on all Americans, the ACLU has begun circulating a
white paper on the escalating battles over wiretapping in the digital age
to key members of Congress.

The new ACLU report -- Big Brother in the Wires -- says that the current
struggle over cryptography policy holds far-reaching and possibly
irrevocable consequences for all Americans. It makes an impassioned case
for limiting the government's ability to seize and review private
communications -- whether they are telephone conversations, FAX messages,
electronic mail, electronic fund transfers or medical records -- by
permitting the use of strong encryption.

The report comes as Congress grapples with fundamental disagreements over
encryption policy. On one side of the policy impasse are the law
enforcement and national security agencies -- the Justice Department, the
FBI, the National Security Council, the Drug Enforcement Agency and many
state and local agencies. On the other side are the communications
industry, the country's leading cryptographers and computer scientists and
civil liberties and privacy advocates.

"We are now at an historic crossroads," the report says. "We can use
emerging technologies to protect our personal privacy, or we can succumb to
scare tactics and to exaggerated claims about the law enforcement value of
electronic surveillance and give up our cherished rights, perhaps forever."

"If President Clinton and federal law enforcement authorities have their
way, new technology will make possible a much more intrusive and omniscient
level of surveillance than has ever been possible before," said ACLU
Legislative Counsel Gregory T. Nojeim. "Congress must reject this blatant
power grab and keep Big Brother out of our wires."

The ACLU report can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/wiretap_brother.html

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 -end excerpts-