Crypto Reform Bill Is Now a Changeling (Wired)

   Crypto Reform Bill Is Now a Changeling
   by Rebecca Vesely 
   6:18pm  11.Sep.97.PDT The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday
   gutted a piece of legislation that both privacy advocates and the
   software industry had looked to as their best hope of seeing the
   government's tight rein on encryption policy loosened.
   
   With a series of amendments, the panel transformed the Security and
   Freedom through Encryption Act into the opposite of what author Bob
   Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, and 252 co-sponsors intended. Where
   the original HR695 sought to prohibit a national key recovery system
   that might allow law enforcement quick access to scrambled data, the
   amended version now requires it. Where the original sought to promote
   commerce and protect privacy by encouraging manufacture and use of
   strong encryption, the new-look bill makes use of such products nearly
   impossible.
   
   The panel approved the changeling bill by a voice vote in a closed
   session. Details of the amendments were made available by a Commerce
   Committee staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity. In addition to
   mandating a national key recovery system in the United States and
   banning the manufacture or sale of code that could not be
   instantaneously decrypted by the police, the amendments also specify
   fines up to US$10,000 and jail terms as long as five years for
   violators.
   
   "It's a sad day that for the first time a congressional committee
   would pass legislation so damaging to civil liberties and to
   industry," said Jon Englund, vice president of the Information
   Technology Association of America, a trade group representing major
   software manufacturers.
   
   Industry leaders also said the Intelligence amendments plan would
   effectively bring the domestic crypto-software industry to a halt.
   Privacy activists say it would strip Americans of secure
   communications in the digital age.
   
   Supporters of the Goodlatte bill noted that the committee acted after
   a long, aggressive lobbying effort by law enforcement and national
   security agencies.
   
   "The administration says there is a long tradition of the FBI being
   able to go their own on the Hill, although I thought those days were
   over," said Jerry Berman, director of the Center for Democracy and
   Technology. "The committees are voting based on national security
   versus civil liberties, and national security is winning."
   
   The bill will next go to the Commerce Committee. Two members of that
   panel stood ready Thursday with an amendment that would ban the
   domestic manufacture, sale, and use of encryption that does not allow
   law enforcement immediate access. The amendment was to be offered by
   Representatives Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), a former FBI agent, and Tom
   Manton (D-New York), a former New York City police officer.
   
   "Louis Freeh's my guy," Oxley told reporters at the meeting, referring
   to the current FBI director. "This amendment is technically neutral.
   It strikes a balance between law enforcement and the right to
   privacy."
   
   But software lobbyists said the amendment means that they would no
   longer be able to manufacture encryption products in the United
   States. "I don't know of one encryption product that would give
   immediate law enforcement access," said Peter Harter, global public
   policy counsel for Netscape.
   
   An amendment to the Oxley/Manton amendment was to be introduced by
   Representatives Rick White (R-Washington) and Ed Markey
   (D-Massachusetts) calling for a study assessing the effectiveness of
   mandatory key recovery systems.
   
   All this legislative posturing is not moot.
   
   The Commerce Committee, in conjunction with the four other committees
   that have already voted on the Goodlatte bill plan to meet with one
   another and interested parties to work out a compromise bill. It is
   possible that the committees on commerce, national security, and
   intelligence will formulate a united substitute bill to replace
   Goodlatte's proposal. The alternative bill would be submitted to the
   Rules Committee, which would decide which piece of legislation would
   go to the House floor. Although 11 of 13 Rules Committee members are
   co-sponsors of Goodlatte's bill, the chairman, Gerald Solomon (R-New
   York), withdrew his support in April because of national security
   concerns.
   
   "We don't want a bill to leave this committee without addressing law
   enforcement concerns," said Representative Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana),
   the Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection subcommittee
   chairman and member of the Commerce Committee. He said that although
   he was a cosponsor of Goodlatte's bill, he would support the
   Oxley/Manton amendment. "We'd like to do it in a fashion that
   satisfies all committees and we can't do that all today."
   
   As for Goodlatte, he says he is willing to compromise on some counts,
   although mandatory key recovery is not one of them.
   
   "I'm pleased," he said rather half-heartedly after the Intelligence
   panel vote. "We may be able to work this out."

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