SAFE bill gets chilly hearing in House committee (Nando Times)

              Spy agency hits free trade in scrambling technology
                                       
      Copyright ©1997 Nando.net
      Copyright ©1997 The Associated Press
      
   WASHINGTON (July 30, 1997 4:45 p.m. EDT) -- A plan to relax
   restrictions on the export of U.S. technology that scrambles computer
   messages into unbreakable codes would threaten national security, an
   official of the National Security Agency told lawmakers Wednesday.
   
   A bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., would leave law
   enforcement agencies without a way to eavesdrop on lawbreakers who use
   encryption technology to commit crime, said William P. Crowell, deputy
   director of the supersecret Defense Department agency.
   
   "The Goodlatte bill would undermine international efforts to catch
   terrorists, spies and drug traffickers," Crowell said. "Quite simply,
   such efforts save American lives and protect our free society."
   
   The bill has been approved by the House Judiciary and International
   Relations committees. It also has drawn support from up to 250
   cosponsors -- more than enough to pass the 435-member House.
   
   Supporters say it's nonsensical to keep all current restrictions on
   U.S. companies in place while foreign companies sell their products
   without restriction.
   
   The Goodlatte bill got a chilly reception from lawmakers who sit on
   the National Security Committee, however.
   
   "I do not think this bill moves us in the right direction," said Rep.
   Floyd Spence, R-S.C., the committee's chairman. "I'm not totally happy
   with the way we're regulating this industry," he said. "But I cannot
   imagine what the consequences would be if we totally remove the
   restrictions on encryption technology."
   
   The Business Software Alliance, representing software companies, has
   lobbied passionately for the bill, saying it would allow U.S.
   encryption producers to compete with foreign businesses.
   
   Encryption technology is sold now without restriction inside the
   United States.
   
   In an effort to keep pace with technology advancing at a rapid pace,
   the Clinton administration relaxed export controls last year. The
   computer industry complained that change did not go far enough.
   
   Administration officials have asked Congress to reject the bill and
   instead set up a system that would give developers of encryption
   technology incentives to make "keys" -- devices that can unscramble
   their codes -- available to law enforcement during criminal
   investigations.
   
   As with wiretaps, authorities would have to obtain court orders to use
   the keys, FBI Director Louis Freeh has said.
   
   Spence said he would make it his personal mission to better educate
   fellow lawmakers on the issue. He said he thinks many of the bill's
   cosponsors don't fully understand it.
   
   "I think lots of my colleagues have been sold a bill of goods," Spence
   said.
   
   By CASSANDRA BURRELL, The Associated Press
   
    Copyright ©1997 Nando.net