[CTRL] U.S. House Intelligence Panel Passes Encryption Bill

[Shane A. Saylor, Eccentric Bard]

 -Caveat Lector-

Thursday July 15 6:41 PM ET

U.S. House Intelligence Panel Passes Encryption Bill
Full Coverage
Internet Privacy


By Aaron Pressman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House Intelligence Committee Thursday approved
legislation to relax strict U.S. export limits on computer data scrambling
technology, watering down some of the bill's provisions but not adding a
controversial amendment opposed by high-tech companies and privacy
advocates.

Two years ago, the committee amended a similar measure to require that all
data scrambling products include a ``back door'' allowing law enforcement
and national security agencies to decode any message.

But Thursday, the committee decided not to add such a provision, which
companies argue is technically difficult and costly to meet and privacy
advocates fear would lead to surveillance abuses.

The committee did weaken the bill's relaxation of export limits on data
scrambling, or encryption, products. The committee also added a provision
allowing the government to require contractors to use encryption with ``back
door'' access in dealings with the government.

Three House committees have already approved the legislation with stronger
export limit relief.

The Intelligence Committee's version is not expected to be considered when
the full House considers the bill, likely in the fall. The House Rules
Committee is expected to send a version with stronger export relief approved
by other committees to the House floor.

None the less, supporters of greater encryption exports said the
Intelligence panel's change of heart from two years ago signaled the
strength of effort to relax the export limits.

``We've come a long way in two years,'' said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at
the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology. ``It's a significant
shift for the debate. The experts and the marketplace have demonstrated that
mandatory plain text access doesn't work.''

Encryption has become an increasingly critical means of securing global
communications and electronic commerce over the Internet. But law enforcers
and national security agencies fear criminals and terrorists will use
encryption to hide their nefarious activities.

The Clinton administration has taken a compromise approach, allowing weak
encryption products to be exported with exceptions for sales to companies in
certain industries like banking and health care. The administration has
allowed exports of strong encryption products that included a back door
access feature.

The bill being considered by the House, authored by Virginia Republican Bob
Goodlatte, would allow exports of any product that was generally available
from non-U.S. companies.

The Intelligence Committee junked that provision, replacing it with a rule
allowing export of medium strength products as long as the sellers reported
to the government who they sold the products to.

Companies have in the past opposed such a requirement, which is difficult to
follow for mass market software like Web browsers or e-mail programs that
are sold in retail stores and over the Internet to millions of customers.

The Intelligence version of the bill would also allow the President to
permit stronger encryption exports if doing so would not harm national
security.

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