BXA Testimony at SAFE Hearing

See William Reinsch's testimony on the administration's 
encryption policy at the September 4 SAFE hearing:

   http://jya.com/bxa090497.htm

Perhaps dissimulating, or not then clued to the draft GAK bill,
Reinsch states:

1. Foreign crypto products are not as widely available as export
control critics claim, and thus do not threaten US products.

2. The administration is against mandatory key escrow.

3. Finds the SAFE bill unhelpful but likes its crypto-criminalization
provision and favors McCain-Kerrey's Secure Public Network 
Act bill or other legislation that will:

  Expressly confirm the freedom of domestic users to choose 
  any type or strength of encryption.

  Explicitly state that participation in a key management 
  infrastructure is voluntary .

  Set forth legal conditions for the release of recovery 
  information to law enforcement officials pursuant to lawful 
  authority and provide liability protection for key recovery 
  agents who have properly released such information.

  Criminalize the misuse of keys and the use of encryption to 
  further a crime. 	  

  Offer, on a voluntary basis, firms that are in the business of 
  providing public cryptography keys the opportunity to obtain 
  government recognition, allowing them to market the 
  trustworthiness implied by government approval.

----------

Leads to the testimony of NSA's Cowell and Justice's Litt would
be appreciated.

Representative Weldon remarked at length about encryption and
defense matters on September 4, supporting the administration's
policy:

   http://jya.com/weldon.txt  (46K)

Keep in mind that what you have is prepared testimony, written sometimes
days before the guy actually speaks, often by his assistant. Often folks
depart from it substantially; sometimes they ignore it completely. 

The most interesting part of a hearing is the back-and-forth q&a period
where folks have to depart from prepared text and think on their feet. For
that you need the transcript.

-Declan


On Sat, 6 Sep 1997, John Young wrote:

> See William Reinsch's testimony on the administration's 
> encryption policy at the September 4 SAFE hearing:
> 
>    http://jya.com/bxa090497.htm
> 
> Perhaps dissimulating, or not then clued to the draft GAK bill,
> Reinsch states:
> 
> 1. Foreign crypto products are not as widely available as export
> control critics claim, and thus do not threaten US products.
> 
> 2. The administration is against mandatory key escrow.
> 
> 3. Finds the SAFE bill unhelpful but likes its crypto-criminalization
> provision and favors McCain-Kerrey's Secure Public Network 
> Act bill or other legislation that will:
> 
>   Expressly confirm the freedom of domestic users to choose 
>   any type or strength of encryption.
> 
>   Explicitly state that participation in a key management 
>   infrastructure is voluntary .
> 
>   Set forth legal conditions for the release of recovery 
>   information to law enforcement officials pursuant to lawful 
>   authority and provide liability protection for key recovery 
>   agents who have properly released such information.
> 
>   Criminalize the misuse of keys and the use of encryption to 
>   further a crime. 	  
> 
>   Offer, on a voluntary basis, firms that are in the business of 
>   providing public cryptography keys the opportunity to obtain 
>   government recognition, allowing them to market the 
>   trustworthiness implied by government approval.
> 
> ----------
> 
> Leads to the testimony of NSA's Cowell and Justice's Litt would
> be appreciated.
> 
> Representative Weldon remarked at length about encryption and
> defense matters on September 4, supporting the administration's
> policy:
> 
>    http://jya.com/weldon.txt  (46K)
> 
>

> Perhaps dissimulating, or not then clued to the draft GAK bill,
> Reinsch states:
[/\]
> 3. Finds the SAFE bill unhelpful but likes its crypto-criminalization
> provision and favors McCain-Kerrey's Secure Public Network 
> Act bill or other legislation that will:
...
>   Offer, on a voluntary basis, firms that are in the business of 
>   providing public cryptography keys the opportunity to obtain 
>   government recognition, allowing them to market the 
>   trustworthiness implied by government approval.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

BWHAHAHA this is some kind of sick joke surely.

Get ur crypto here folks, it's approved by the gubermint.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In <1.5.4.32.19970906234350.00705f64@pop.pipeline.com>, on 09/06/97 
   at 07:43 PM, John Young <jya@pipeline.com> said:

>See William Reinsch's testimony on the administration's 
>encryption policy at the September 4 SAFE hearing:

>   http://jya.com/bxa090497.htm

>Perhaps dissimulating, or not then clued to the draft GAK bill, Reinsch
>states:

>1. Foreign crypto products are not as widely available as export control
>critics claim, and thus do not threaten US products.

Lie

>2. The administration is against mandatory key escrow.

Lie

>3. Finds the SAFE bill unhelpful but likes its crypto-criminalization
>provision and favors McCain-Kerrey's Secure Public Network  Act bill or
>other legislation that will:

>  Expressly confirm the freedom of domestic users to choose 
>  any type or strength of encryption.

Lie

>  Explicitly state that participation in a key management 
>  infrastructure is voluntary .

Lie

>  Set forth legal conditions for the release of recovery 
>  information to law enforcement officials pursuant to lawful 
>  authority and provide liability protection for key recovery 
>  agents who have properly released such information.

Any time they want it.

>  Criminalize the misuse of keys and the use of encryption to 
>  further a crime. 

Any and all uses will be a crime.	  

>  Offer, on a voluntary basis, firms that are in the business of 
>  providing public cryptography keys the opportunity to obtain 
>  government recognition, allowing them to market the 
>  trustworthiness implied by government approval.


They don't want it nor do they need it.

- -- 
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III  http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting    Cooking With Warp 4.0

Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice
PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html                        
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