WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration last week formally opposed a bill to relax export
restrictions on encryption products. Encryption is scrambling technology used to keep electronic communications,
including wireless telephony, private.
The bill, known as the Security and Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Act,
has been opposed by the Clinton administration on national security and law-enforcement grounds. A hearing last week
by the House courts and intellectual property subcommittee gave the administration an opportunity to publicly decry
the bill.
The Clinton administration is “concerned that a decontrol of unbreakable encryption will cause the
further spread [of] encryption products to terrorist organizations and international criminals and frustrate the ability of
law enforcement to combat these problems internationally … [the bill] may impede the development of products that
could assist law enforcement to access plain text,” said Ronald Lee, associate deputy attorney general of the
Department of Justice.
It is against the law to export encryption over 56 bits even though the international norm is
128 bits. “There are millions of Americans that violate our export control laws every day” because U.S.
export control laws on encryption are too strict, said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), a sponsor of the bill.
The SAFE
Act, introduced by Goodlatte and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), may be the first piece of legislation introduced in the
106th Congress to draw bipartisan leadership support.
