Re: Cops, Spies Fail to Slow Crypto Bill

[Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>]

At 11:17 PM 7/22/97 -0400, Dave K-P wrote:
>Security and Freedom through Encryption Act passed at a mark-up
>meeting of the House International Relations Committee.
>
>	http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/5399.html

Unless the bill has substantially changed, the Feds are giving up
some control over encryption exports, which they'd substantially
lost in the market anyway, and some ability to mandate GAK,
which they haven't been able to sell very well in their last 4 tries,
in return for criminalizing domestic use of crypto by people who want
to preserve their privacy while committing potentially incorrect acts.

Sounds like they're maintaining the image that _they're_ the ones
compromising, the poor guys, when in reality they're gaining power.

Not only does "Use crypto, go to jail" penalize spies with secret decoder
rings (arguably a National Security issue), and child pornographers
sending their encrypted wares to each other (arguably a police issue),
it penalizes anyone who uses a digital cellphone to call their bookie
or ask their under-21 roommate if they should pick up beer on the way home
or ask somebody for a date if they're not the politically approved gender,
or who uses IPv6 IPSEC to carry their email to their ISP on anything illegal,
whether it's something that rates 5 years in jail or a $25 fine. 
If the CDA hadn't been tossed out on its <expletive deleted> you could
have gotten the extra 5 years for saying <expletive deleted> on an
encrypted mailing list if it was possible there wasa kid listening -
or for using an encrypted file system on the PC where you store your Out Box
even if you're sending to unencrypted mailing lists.

One version of the bill _did_ get changed to only penalize crypto
used with Federal felony crimes, which reduces the damage substantially
(though Tim _keeps_ being a felon under an increasing number of rules);
does anybody know if this provision survived?


#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
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