Crypto bill talks deadlocked (CNET)

   Crypto bill talks deadlocked
   By Reuters
   September 19, 1997, 11:10 a.m. PT
   
   WASHINGTON--Like many who have tried to broach a compromise on the
   knotty issue of regulating computer encoding technology, members of
   the House Commerce Committee are finding negotiation efforts futile,
   people involved said.
   
   With talks deadlocked, the committee is likely to vote next week on
   virtually the same amendments that would have been considered
   previously, and most participants said a restrictive proposal favored
   by law enforcement agencies would carry the day.
   
   Barring a surprise change in momentum, the committee will likely
   approve an amendment from Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) to impose
   restrictions for the first time on domestic sales and distribution of
   encryption products, staffers and lobbyists said.
   
   "He has the votes," said an industry lobbyist opposed to Oxley's
   amendment. "To call this negotiation is kind of a joke."
   
   Oxley's staff also conceded that talks were not proving fruitful.
   "We're negotiating with the other side, but I don't think there's a
   lot of middle ground here," Oxley spokeswoman Peggy Peterson said.
   
   One week ago, the committee postponed a vote on a bill by Rep. Bob
   Goodlatte (R-Virginia) that was originally intended to relax strict
   U.S. export limits on encryption and prohibit mandatory back-door
   access for the government.
   
   Lobbyists and staffers add that any amendments to the bill, known as
   the Security and Freedom through Encryption Act, may be moot, since
   appropriations and other, more pressing issues may keep Goodlatte's
   proposal from reaching the House floor.
   
   The Republican leadership gave the committee two weeks to find an
   approach that would be acceptable to law enforcement and national
   security agencies on one side, and software companies, civil
   libertarians, and Internet users on the other.
   
   Reps. Rick White (R-Washington) and Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) had
   prepared an amendment requiring a study on back-door access
   technologies, but their proposal has not attracted much support from
   the FBI or the leadership of the committee.
   
   "Language can be changed but at the end of the day, it doesn't get law
   enforcement on board," one staffer said.
   
   FBI director Louis Freeh has repeatedly told lawmakers to adopt
   restrictions forcing encryption manufacturers to include features
   allowing law enforcers to decode any message covertly. Freeh said
   without such a law, criminals and terrorists would increasingly use
   encryption to thwart FBI surveillance. (See related story)
   
   Software companies counter that adding such features may be impossible
   and would reduce the level of security provided to legitimate citizens
   and businesses seeking to safeguard their communications. Civil
   libertarians, in turn, said the FBI proposal would permit an Orwellian
   intrusion of government snooping into everyone's private affairs.
   
   Domestic restrictions like those in the Oxley amendment were added to
   the original bill by the Intelligence Committee in a classified
   session last week. (See related story)
   
   A few days earlier, the National Security Committee gutted the export
   relaxation provisions drafted by Goodlatte and replaced them with
   export limits tighter than current rules.
   
   Story Copyright © 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
   
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