55 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
EFFector Online|EFFector Online|EFFector Online|EFFector Online
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EFFector Online|EFFector Online|EFFector Online|EFFector Online
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Volume 1 Issue:1.07
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Friday June 7, 1991
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SENATE ANTI-ENCRYPTION BILL WITHDRAWN
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WILL BE REPLACED BY A NEW OMNIBUS CRIME BILL -- S.1241
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SENSE OF CONGRESS LANGUAGE RESTRICTING ENCRYPTION REMOVED
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When Senate Bill 266 was proposed, some of its provisions would have
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restricted the rights of individuals to secure online communications
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through the use of encryption programs. The specific language was:
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"It is the sense of Congress that providers of
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electronic communications services and manufacturers
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of electronic communications service equipment shall
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ensure that communications systems permit the
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government to obtain the plain text contents of voice,
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data, and other communications when appropriately
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authorized by law."
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Let stand, this language would have a chilling effect on encryption.
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It would inevitably compromise individual privacy in telecommunications.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation and several other groups determined
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to oppose this provision.
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In the last issue of EFFector Online, we reported we would register
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our opposition to this clause. In this case, Senator Patrick Leahy (D.
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Vermont), who chairs the sub-committee on Technology and the Law --a
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sub-set of the Senate Judiciary Committee-- was the key to this issue.
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This week the EFF met with Leahy's staff to present our reasons for
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the removal of the language dealing with encryption. Today, we were
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informed that the encryption clause has been eliminated from the new
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crime bill which replaced the bill originally known as S.266. In
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addition, Leahy's sub-committee on Technology and the Law has undertaken
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to study the issues of encryption and telecommunications technology.
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To continue this dialogue, Computer Professionals for Social
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Responsibility, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and RSA will be
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holding an invitational workshop on privacy and encryption in Washington
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later this month. Following the workshop, a press conference will be
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held to announce a set of policy recommendations on cryptography.
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The conference will take place on Monday at 2:00 at the National
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Press Club (14th & Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.). All interested parties
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are invited to attend.
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-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
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Please direct all mail regarding EFFector Online to:
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editors@eff.org
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Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
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