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Recent Developments in Crypto Policy Among U.S. Allies
The U.S. government has repeatedly acknowledged that U.S. export controls on encryption make sense only if there is general worldwide support for similar restrictions. Otherwise, criminal groups as well as legitimate enterprises will procure their security products from foreign suppliers. U.S. government officials have promised Congress repeatedly that an international consensus supporting key recovery was emerging. Yet, despite the decision under the Wassenaar arrangement last November, support for the U.S. approach still has not emerged. To the contrary, in the past six months, three major countries seeking leadership roles in the information age have taken steps in the opposite direction, dropping or repudiating key recovery solutions as unworkable.
| United Kingdom |
The United Kingdom has recently rejected key recovery. In May 1999, a government task force report endorsed by the Prime Minister concluded, "There is no ‘silver bullet’ policy that guarantees that the development of encryption will not affect law enforcement capabilities." The report found that key escrow would be effective only if widely accepted in the UK and world marketplace, and that such "widespread adoption of key escrow was unlikely in the current industry and public climate." Given the likely failure of key escrow to attain widespread acceptance, the report concluded, "Implementation of mandatory key escrow would significantly impair the ability of the UK to become the leading environment in the world in which to trade electronically." Accordingly, the task force recommended:
"the government should reform policy so that licensed providers should not be required to deposit data encryption keys with third parties (i.e., no mandatory ‘key escrow’). The introduction of a mandatory link between licensed providers of services and key escrow would not support the Government’s twin objectives on e-commerce and law enforcement."
Instead, the task force recommended the establishment of a Technical Assistance Centre, similar to the NET Center added to the SAFE Act by the Commerce Committee last Congress. Interestingly, the task force recommended against making it a crime to use encryption in the furtherance of an offense. The full UK report is available at: http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/Innovation/1999/encryption/index.htm.
| Germany |
On June 2, 1999, the German cabinet adopted an encryption policy that rejected restrictions on the availability of strong encryption. Indeed, the government went one step further and made it official policy of Germany to promote the development and manufacture of secure and powerful cryptographic products, and committed to take actions to improve the international competitiveness of German companies in this field.
"The Federal Government has no intention of restricting the free availability of encryption products in Germany. It regards the use of secure encryption as a decisive prerequisite for data protection for the public, for the development of electronic business transactions and for the protection of company secrets. The Federal Government will thus actively support the spread of secure encryption in Germany.
"For reasons relating to the security of the state, the economy and society, the Federal Government considers it indispensable that German manufacturers be capable of developing and manufacturing secure and powerful encryption products. It will take steps to improve the international competitiveness of this sector."
The official translation of the German statement is at: http://jya.com/de-crypto-all.htm.
| France |
On January 19, 1999, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced that France was dropping its long held restrictions on the use of cryptography. Jospin announced that users will be able to immediately use 128 bit encryption (such as PGP) without permission of government. The official translation of the government’s policy statement states:
"The Government has therefore decided to opt for a fundamental change of direction, which aims to make the use of encryption totally permitted in France, while adapting the means at the disposal of the authorities to guarantee public liberty in this new environment and to combat the use of encoding methods for illicit ends."
While France retained export controls, it dropped its requirement of mandatory key escrow, and the government promised to introduce new legislation to repeal he law mandating key escrow.
The French statement is at: http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/GB/INFO/FICHE1GB.HTM
For more information, contact: Alan Davidson or Lusan Chua (202) 637-9800
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