Crypto Bill Back from Grave

[jei@zor.hut.fi]

http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/politics/story/18132.html?wnpg=all

Crypto Bill Back from Grave
by James Glave 

12:10 p.m.  25.Feb.99.PST

Legislation that would relax export restrictions on data-scrambling
technologies and seek to guarantee citizens the right to use strong
encryption was reintroduced to Congress Thursday.

Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) and Zoe Lofgren (D-California)
resurrected their Security and Privacy Through Encryption Act, or
SAFE, with the bipartisan support of 205 House members.

"My bill will give law-abiding citizens access to a major way to
prevent credit-card fraud, and prevent a hacker or a terrorist from
doing something to a nuclear plant or the New York Stock Exchange,"
said Goodlatte. "The risks to our society of not using strong crypto
are very grave."

It's the third time around for H.R. 695, which was shot down
previously by aggressive backstage lobbying from law enforcement
agencies, including the FBI.

"Technology is leaving [FBI director Louis Freeh] behind," said
Goodlatte. "He either has to change his approach or the FBI is going
to be in a difficult situation. Whether this bill passes or not,
people who are going to break the law are going to get ahold of strong
encryption."

The FBI and other law-enforcement agencies want the current crypto
controls -- which limit the strength of crypto to a crackable 56 bits
-- to remain the standard. They fear the software will hamper their
ability to eavesdrop on terrorists and terrorist states.

But that's short sighted, said Lofgren, who represents many Silicon
Valley software companies that want the shackles lifted.

"We thought in the Valley about taking up a collection so that we
could send someone to the FBI to educate them," said Lofgren. "They
need to understand the digital world -- if you can download it from
the Internet today, it is too late."

In Senate testimony earlier this month, Freeh stuck to his guns.

"Law enforcement remains in unanimous agreement that the continued
widespread availability and increasing use of strong, non-recoverable
encryption products will ... devastate our capabilities for fighting
crime, preventing acts of terrorism, and protecting the national
security," he told senators.

The bill may have a better chance than its predecessors. One of the
bill's biggest critics in the past, New York Republican Gerald
Solomon, has retired. His replacement as chairman of the House Rules
Committee, David Dreier (R-California), co-signed the latest draft.

The bill is supported by the Americans for Computer Privacy, a
computer industry lobbying group, which says the export rules create
an unfair playing field vis a vis overseas competitors.

Though industry was clearly on board with SAFE, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog group, was unhappy about the
bill.

"Goodlatte and gang didn't do this in a way that would benefit the
individual and left it in a way that would create some serious privacy
concerns," said EFF attorney Shari Steele.

Steele said that SAFE is geared toward mass-market software, but does
not protect individuals who write their own encryption software. She
also said that the bill does not allow for judicial reviews.

Finally, she said that the bill creates a new crime -- that of using
crypto to commit a crime -- a stipulation she interprets as the
authors throwing a bone to law enforcement.