Pro-CODE: S 377

*  Encourages the widespread availability of strong privacy and security 
   products by relaxing export controls on encryption technologies that
   are already available on the mass market or in the public domain.
   This would include popular programs like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
   and World Wide Web browsers like those made by Netscape and Microsoft.

   Current US encryption policy restricts export of encryption products
   with key-lengths of more than 40 bits.  A 1997 study by renowned
   cryptographers including Whit Diffie (one of the fathers of modern
   cryptography), Matt Blaze, and others concluded that 40 bits is
   "woefully inadequate" to protect personal and business communications.
   
*  Prohibits the federal government from imposing mandatory key escrow or
   key recovery encryption policies on the domestic market and limits the
   authority of the Secretary of Commerce to set standards for
   encryption products.

*  Requires the Secretary of Commerce to allow the unrestricted export of
   other encryption technologies if products of similar strength are
   generally available outside the United States. 

• Text of bill
• List of 19 co-sponsors
• Text of S. 1726, predecessor in the 104th Congress.

• CDT's Action Alert announcing the re-introduction of the bill
• CDT's Analysis of S.1726
• CDT Policy Post 2.15: Legislation Challenges Clinton's Grip on US Crypto Policy
• CDT Policy Post 2.16: Senator Burns Goes Online to Discuss Crypto Bill
• A CDT-led public interest and industry coalition letter in support of Pro-CODE was sent to the "Pro-CODE" sponsors on May 2, 1996.
• On September 9, 1996, CDT sent a letter to Senate Commerce Committee members urging them to report the "Pro-CODE" bill out of the committee without amendment.

• Press Release by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT)
at announcement of Pro-CODE's reintroduction [January 28, 1997]
• An open letter to the Internet Community from Senator Burns [February 27, 1997]

• Statements by Senators upon the original bill's introduction in the 104th Congress

  • Sen. Conrad Burns
  • Sen. Larry Pressler
  • Sen. Bob Dole
  • Sen. Patrick Leahy

• Congress Goes To The Net

  • Sen. Patrick Leahy sends an open letter to the Net signed with PGP -- the first time a member of Congress has digitally signed an official communication.

  • An open letter to the Net community from Senator Conrad Burns on the introduction of S. 1726.

  • CDT's Congress and The Net Page

• Press Clips PoliticsUSA/National Journal article - "Unshackling the Net?" May 17, 1996

• May 2, 1996 In a move to replace the Cold War-era regulations on encryption with policies that make sense for the global Internet, Senators Conrad Burns (R-MT), Bob Dole (R-KS), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Larry Pressler (R-SD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), and others introduced legislation to roll back the restrictions prohibiting the export of strong encryption technology. The bill, entitled the "Promotion of Commerce On-Line in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act of 1996", was designed to encourage the widespread availability of strong, easy-to-use privacy and security technologies for the Internet. It was similar to a bill introduced in March by Senators Leahy and Burns, though the new bill did not contain criminal provisions or provisions imposing liability for third party key holders.
• September 12, 1996 The Senate Commerce Committee vote on the bill that was scheduled for this date was postponed indefinitely.
• February 27, 1997 Pro-CODE is re-introduced in the 105th Congress.
• March 19, 1997 The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on S. 377, the Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (the "Pro-CODE" Act). Among some of the witnesses who testified at the hearing were Louis Freeh, the director of the FBI, and Jim Barksdale, President and CEO of Netscape Communications.
  An audio transcript of the hearing is available on Democracy.Net.

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