Clinton Administration Domestic Encryption Controls

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The Clinton Administration has drafted legislation to control the domestic use of encryption technologies and compel participation in key recovery systems open to the government. The bill would:

• Create a vast new government-dominated "key management infrastructure" designed to be a prerequisite for participation in electronic commerce.

• Compel people to use key recovery as a condition of participating in the key management infrastructure.

• Require the disclosure of all private keys held by third parties, without a court order and upon mere written request of any law enforcement or national security agency.

CDT has obtained a draft of the proposed bill which the Administration has floated to several members of Congress. To the best of our knowledge, the bill does not yet have a supporter on the Hill.

• CDT's Statement and Initial Analysis of the Draft
• Text of the Administration Draft

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