Cantwell Amendment Passes House Committee

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 17:41:32 -0500


Dave -


Hadn't seen this (or related news) posted on IP, so thought I'd
send it along.  I'm getting this second hand, so cannot vouch for
its authenticity or accuracy.


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House Panel Rebufs Administration On Encryption
 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1994 MAY 20 (NB) -- The House Foreign Affairs
Committee has dealt a sharp blow to the White House on its plans for weak
encryption through the use of the National Security Agency's Clipper chip. The
committee has voted to reauthorize the Export Administration Act with provisions
proposed by Rep. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that allow software publishers to
export software with any kind of encryption capabilities they choose.


Cantwell's amendment adds a new section to export act that addresses computer
hardware, software and technology for information security. The new subsection
has three major provisions:


The Secretary of Commerce would have exclusive authority over exports except
those specifically designed for military use. This takes the Defense Department
out of the determination of what can be exported. In the past, the Pentagon
could block exports of what it considered "dual use" technologies, which, from
time-to-time, has included personal computers, and software such as dBASE,
Paradox and several major spreadsheet programs.


The government would be barred from requiring an export license for export of
"generally available software," defined to mean mass market commercial or public
domain software. The inclusion of public domain software would mean that there
is no problem using the several strong encryption algorithms available on the
Internet and elsewhere on bulletin board systems.


The government would be required to grant export licenses for software to
commercial users in any country "to which exports of such software has been
approved for use by foreign financial institutions." But Commerce would not be
required to grant the export license if there is "substantial evidence" that the
software will be diverted or modified for military or terrorist use.


Business interests have been making a strong move to defeat the administration's
plan for weak encryption technology that the government would be able to crack.
"For no good reason, we're dealing with real risk and real loss to our
industry," Scott McNealy, chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems, told
Fortune magazine recently. "Why would an international company want the US
government to be able to eavesdrop on them?"


The Clinton administration has been pushing the Clipper chip, a hardware
encryption device, as a defacto encryption standard. Under the administration's
proposal, the government would continue stringent exports controls on
encryption, with the exception of Clipper technology. So, while use of the
Clipper chip would be voluntary, it would also be economic suicide to avoid
including Clipper technology, say software industry officials.


But the government has insisted on Clipper. Says FBI Director Louis Freeh,
"Without this initiative, the government will eventually become helpless to
defend the nation from terrorism and other threats...that can be
interdicted...by lawful electronic surveillance."


"It has been very frustrating, to put it mildly, to watch the administration
agree to the liberalization of exports on other high-tech goods but remain
recalcitrant in their position about the export of generally available
software," says Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance.
The Foreign Affairs Committee did not buy the administration argument, and there
doesn't seem to be much support for the White House on this issue anywhere in
Congress. "Overall, there has been a very negative response to Clipper in
Congress," BSA's Kim Willard told Newsbytes.


With the export act approved by the committee, it can now come to the House
floor for a vote. Willard said she expects floor action in June.


In the Senate, a similar measure on exports and encryption has been introduced
by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Murray is likely to offer her measure as an
amendment to the export act when the Senate Banking Committee takes it up this
summer. The success of the Cantwell amendment is something of a coup for the
36-year-old freshman, who represents the Seattle "Sofware Sound" area of
software companies, including Microsoft. Few first-termers are successful in
winning amendments to major legislation.


But Cantwell has had friends in important places in the 103rd Congress. She is a
protege of House Speak Thomas Foley, another Washington Democrat.
(Kennedy Maize/19940520/Contact: Kim Willard, tel 202-872-5500)


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Steve Haynes