Mirror of new export control regulations

Because it appears that the whitehouse URL changes daily for press
releases, I've put a link to a copy of the text of the rules at the top of
my homepage.  You can also skip straight to it at:

http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/nov96-regs.htm

A. Michael Froomkin        | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)
Associate Professor of Law |
U. Miami School of Law     | froomkin@law.miami.edu
P.O. Box 248087            | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin
Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here.

>http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/nov96-regs.htm


It gets even more interesting.  In addition to signing today's Executive
Order on encryption, the President also designated Ambassador David L.
Aaron as the new "Special Envoy for Cryptography."  (Really, I'm not making
this up.)

According to the White House, this Special Envoy will have "responsibility
to promote the growth of electronic commerce and robust, secure global
communications in a manner that protects the public safety and national
security. . . . Ambassador Aaron will promote international cooperation,
coordinate U.S. contacts with foreign governments on encryption matters and
provide a focal point for identifying and resolving bilateral and
multilateral encryption issues."

CDT's Web site also has the text of the President's Executive Order,
Presidential Memorandum on Encryption Export Policy, and letter to
Congress, at

	http://www.cdt.org/crypto/clipper311

The White House Crypto Envoy press release should be posted there shortly.

What happens next?  According to the Administration, we can expect two new
Rules -- one from the State Department, transferring its jurisdiction to
Commerce; and one from the Commerce Department, spelling out exactly how it
will approve products for export, what the requirements for approved key
recovery centers and key recovery plans will look like, etc.  That last
rule is where the rubber really hits the road.  We'll finally have a chance
to talk concretely about whether the Administration's key recovery/export
control policy meets the privacy needs of computer users.  Hopefully there
will be a comment period for concerned parties to make their views known...


Alan Davidson, Staff Counsel                 202.637.9800 (v)
Center for Democracy and Technology          202.637.0968 (f)
1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 1100                  <abd@cdt.org>
Washington, DC 20006                         PGP key via finger

At 9:10 PM -0500 11/15/96, Alan Davidson wrote:
>>http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/nov96-regs.htm
>
>
>It gets even more interesting.  In addition to signing today's Executive
>Order on encryption, the President also designated Ambassador David L.
>Aaron as the new "Special Envoy for Cryptography."  (Really, I'm not making
>this up.)

Could this be the same David Aaron who writes thriller novels about nuclear
terrorism?


(I don't know that it is, by the way, nor am I making a joke. A David
Aaron, with also diplomatic ties, wrote at least one fine thriller some
years back. If he's the crypto czar, he can probably spin an appropriately
scary story to tell the recalcitrant Third Worlders he'll be dealing
with...countries like France, Britain, etc.)

--Tim May


"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

Looks like a trend.  

  In his day job, U.S. Army Maj. Ralph Peters is a strategist for the
  White House Drug czar.  In his spare time, he is a best-selling novelist
  - a kind of thinking man's Tom Clancy - whose previous five books have
  sales totaling at least a million copies world-wide. 
 
  [...H]is next novel, "Twilight of the Heroes," to be published next
  month (Avon, 464 pages, $6.50), is a sharp critique of the U.S. war
  against drug smuggling from South America.

  [...Peters says] a lot is going right in U.S. drug policy nowadays,
  which he calls "a disaster" before Gen. McCaffrey took over.

  [...] Using fiction, he says, lets him speak to a wider audience: "If I
  had written a clinical study of drug policy, it might have sold 2,000
  copies." [...]

    - WSJ, 11/12/96, review by T.E. Ricks, Pentagon Correspondent

In his day job, by the way, Maj. Peters authors articles arguing for
assassination of drug criminals and such.  Much more efficient than
bothering with evidence, trials, and such nuisances.

bd

On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

> At 9:10 PM -0500 11/15/96, Alan Davidson wrote:
> >>http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/nov96-regs.htm
> >
> >
> >It gets even more interesting.  In addition to signing today's Executive
> >Order on encryption, the President also designated Ambassador David L.
> >Aaron as the new "Special Envoy for Cryptography."  (Really, I'm not making
> >this up.)
> 
> Could this be the same David Aaron who writes thriller novels about nuclear
> terrorism?
> 
> 
> (I don't know that it is, by the way, nor am I making a joke. A David
> Aaron, with also diplomatic ties, wrote at least one fine thriller some
> years back. If he's the crypto czar, he can probably spin an appropriately
> scary story to tell the recalcitrant Third Worlders he'll be dealing
> with...countries like France, Britain, etc.)
> 
> --Tim May
> 
> 
> "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
> that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
> [NYT, 1996-10-02]
> We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
> ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
> Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
> tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
> W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
> Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
> "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
> 
> 
> 
> 
>