IP: White House decision affects e-mail scrambling software

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: White House decision affects e-mail scrambling software
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 18:17:36 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  Fox News - AP

White House decision affects e-mail scrambling  software
 6.56 p.m. ET (2256 GMT) September 16, 1998

 By Ted Bridis, Associated Press

 WASHINGTON (AP) � The Clinton administration relaxed some restrictions
Wednesday on the export of powerful data-scrambling technology � a decision
that could help Americans who want to guarantee the privacy of their e-mail
and other electronic information. 

 The White House said U.S. companies can begin selling high-tech tools
overseas that use the so-called 56-bit Data Encryption Standard or its
equivalent, which has an unlocking key with 72 quadrillion possible
combinations. 

 The government imposes limits on exports of the most powerful scrambling
technology � now anything above 56-bit � because it fears that authorities,
even with a judge's permission, won't be able to read the messages of
criminals or terrorists. 

 The export limits do not directly affect Americans, who are legally free
to use encryption technology of any strength. But U.S. companies are
reluctant to develop one version of their technology for domestic use and a
weaker overseas version, so they typically sell only the most powerful type
that's legal for export, even to Americans. 

 Vice President Al Gore called the new rule's balance between privacy and
not helping criminals "probably one of the single-most difficult and
complex issues that you can possibly imagine.'' 

 "We must ensure that new technology does not mean new and sophisticated
criminal and terrorist activity,'' Gore said. "And we must ensure that the
sensitive financial and business transactions that now cruise along the
information superhighway are 100 percent safe in cyberspace.'' 

 Privacy advocates, though, derided Wednesday's announcement as a modest
step, noting that a non-profit group of researchers demonstrated earlier
this summer it can unscramble a 56-bit coded message in just days. 

 Experts have suggested that scrambling sensitive e-mail or online
credit-card transactions using less than 90 bits is vulnerable, while most
experts consider 128-bit encryption practically unbreakable. 

 Some companies that sell encryption products nonetheless praised the
announcement. The president of the Business Software Alliance, Robert
Holleyman, called it "a significant improvement over what we have today.'' 

 The administration previously limited the export of 40-bit encryption
technology, which has more than 1 trillion combinations. 

 "It's a step but it's a small step,'' said Alan Davidson, an encryption
expert for the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. "We're
worried that 56 bits is not enough.'' 

 Barry Steinhardt, president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San
Francisco-based civil liberties group, said: "We assume this is done to
throw a bone to industry at a time when the administration needs all the
friends it can get.''

 "But it's half a step, and it continues to rely on dangerous
technologies,'' he said. 

 The White House also said Wednesday that it will allow U.S. companies to
use unlimited-strength encryption to communicate with their subsidiaries in
all countries except seven terrorist nations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria,
Sudan, North Korea and Cuba. 

 It also agreed to allow U.S. encryption companies to sell the most
powerful scrambling tools overseas to insurance companies and health and
medical organizations in more than 40 countries. 

 And the administration said it will establish a technical support center
for federal, state and local authorities who might be confronted with
criminals using encryption. 

 In June, the Electronic Frontier Foundation used a custom-built computer
worth less than $250,000 to crack a 56-bit encrypted message in less than
three days to win an industry contest. The EFF published a book describing
exactly how to build a replica of its code-breaking computer. 

                  � 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-----------------------
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