WASHINGTON-A high-tech industry bill to relax export restrictions on encryption products is
plodding its way through the legislative process despite opposition from the Clinton administration.
On March 11,
the House courts and intellectual property subcommittee passed the bill without amendment on a voice vote. A full
House Judiciary Committee vote is expected before the April spring break, said Michele Heller, press secretary for
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a sponsor of the bill.
The bill, known as the Security and Freedom through Encryption
(SAFE) Act, had been opposed in the past by the White House on national security and law-enforcement
grounds.
In his written testimony to another congressional panel, FBI Director Louis Freeh indicated combating
encryption is a high priority for law enforcement.
“The expansion of electronic commerce and concerns for
privacy have brought about new concepts and deployments in affordable and robust encryption products for private
sector use … $7 million is requested to develop and enhance FBI counter-encryption technology and support services
that will allow law enforcement access to the plain text of encrypted communications and computer files lawfully
seized pursuant to court-authorization and search warrants,” Freeh said before the House Appropriations
commerce, justice, state and judiciary subcommittee.
The White House may not like the bill, but apparently many in
Congress do. The SAFE Act has 205 members of Congress signed on as original co-sponsors-very close to the 218
needed for the measure to pass.
That may not mean anything, however. In the last Congress, a similar bill had 250
co-sponsors but could not make it to the House floor for debate. Instead, efforts to pass the SAFE Act got bogged down
when five different committees each reported different versions.
