White House crypto controls make rounds (CNET)

   White House crypto controls make rounds
   By Dan Goodin
   September 8, 1997, 1:40 p.m. PT
   
   Despite public statements to the contrary, the Clinton administration
   is helping pave the way for mandatory controls on the domestic use of
   encryption through proposed legislation that may be offered up to
   Congress as early as tomorrow, according to staffers on Capitol Hill.
   
   The proposal, which has been making the rounds for the last few weeks,
   closely resembles comments FBI director Louis Freeh made last
   Wednesday to a Senate subcommittee. (See related story.)
   
   Among other things, the plan would require all encryption software
   available in the United States to contain backdoors that would allow
   law enforcers to read coded communications. It would also require ISPs
   and phone networks that provide encryption services to "enable the
   immediate decryption" of coded messages flowing over their systems.
   
   U.S. law has long controlled the export of encryption--which scrambles
   email, computer files, and phone calls so they are unintelligible to
   eavesdroppers--but has never regulated domestic uses of the
   technology. Following Freeh's speech, the White House distanced itself
   from the FBI director's comments. (See related story.)
   
   Despite the disavowal, the Clinton administration provided "technical
   assistance" in drafting the proposed legislation, according to a
   spokesman at the Commerce Department, which oversees encryption laws.
   "The administration is not circulating the bill," added the spokesman,
   Eugene Cottilli. "I don't know that they have a position until they
   know exactly what emerges."
   
   However, MSNBC quotes Commerce Undersecretary William Reinsch as
   saying the administration would likely support any bill approved in
   Congress containing such domestic controls.
   
   "It's a real radical departure" from the handful of encryption bills
   now pending in Congress, said James Dempsey, senior staff counsel at
   the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C. "It is the
   first full domestic regulation of encryption ever proposed."
   
   As reported last week, the law would likely face a sling of legal
   challenges if passed. But its passage is not likely, according to
   staffers for two legislators supporting the rival Security and
   Encryption through Technology Act, which would loosen government
   control of encryption. The House bill has 252 sponsors and enjoys some
   support in the Senate.
   
   Calling the competing crypto proposal now circulating in Capitol Hill
   a "lightning rod," one staffer said its chances of being approved were
   next to nil.
   
   That doesn't mean it won't be offered up as an amendment to SAFE,
   which was authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia). Indeed, three
   separate House committees will take up SAFE this week alone. Any one
   of those could vote to replace SAFE with the competing proposal, the
   staffers pointed out.
   
   Two of the members of the House National Security Committee--chairman
   Floyd Spence (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Curt Weldon
   (R-Pennsylvania)--are opposed to SAFE, making a markup tomorrow before
   that committee one possible source for a substitute offering.
   
   Proponents of domestic controls landed a powerful ally when Sen.
   Dianne Feinstein (D-California) voiced her support last week. However,
   California legislators unanimously passed a resolution supporting
   SAFE.
   
   White House representatives were not immediately available for
   comment.
   
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