[117948] in Cypherpunks
IP: more re Encryption Technology Limits Eased
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Thu Sep 16 13:12:01 1999
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Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 12:46:27 -0400
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 11:47:12 -0400
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From: David Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: IP: more re Encryption Technology Limits Eased
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Reply-To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>From: "Dave Wilson" <dave@wilson.net>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>
>
>I don't want to brag, but it was *first* reported by the San Jose Mercury
>News. Go to http://www.mercurynews.com for a complete report by Jonathan
>Rabinovitz.
>
As I said , the devil is in the details. I just got off the phone
with "a well placed person" who said point two , which could
translate as key escrow, is not intended by the Administration to
call for mandatory escrow. It is intended to get at places which
maintain key escrow facilities like corporations etc. I pointed out
that in the course of debate in the Congress, someone will surely try
for mandatory and he said "lets see what happens" I agree lets watch
and be ready to stop it.
I got a strong impression that the credit for this one goes to the VP
Gore for leading the parts of the Government down a path they did
not want to go. If so , well done!!
Wonder what the FBI will do with $80 m. Subcontract with NSA?
Dave
According to the official, the policy comprises three pillars:
* The administration will give $500 million to the Defense
Department over the next several years to beef up its information
security and to become a model for other government agencies and the
private sector.
* Exporters of the strongest encryption products, which generally
have keys of 128 bits or more, will no longer need to license each
shipment. Instead, they will in most instances only need to have a
one-time technical review of the product. However, the new policy
will maintain the current ban on sending such products to states
considered ``terrorist nations'' and will require a case-by-case
review of sales of high-power custom encryption to foreign
governments.
* Legislation will be proposed to Congress that will set up a
system for law enforcement officials to go to court to get from third
parties the keys that would open encrypted messages. Along with this
proposal, the administration plans to set aside $80 million over the
next four years to help the FBI improve its ability to crack codes.
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Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
