IP: U.S. ENCRYPTION EXPORT RULES STYMIE ALLIES' SYSTEMS

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

> From Edupage
The U.S. policies restricting the export of strong encryption software has
held back the development of secure commercial and government
communications in Europe, says an academic at Cambridge University in
England.  Ross Anderson, who co-authored a report highly critical of the
Clinton Administration's stance, says "We have to question the wisdom of
introducing weaknesses into our national infrastructures.  In the long
term, the United Kingdom and its European partners have to start thinking
carefully about the defensive vs. offensive aspects of this business.  The
time is right for a fundamental realignment of resources in this field."
Ross says the restrictions mean that the British Patent Office has to use a
very weak form of encryption when communicating with its counterparts
overseas:  "They use the size of keys I give to my students to break as
exercises."  Civilian networks that have weak security as a result of the
controls include the Europe-wide Global System for Mobile Communications
telephone networks, commercial banking networks and television broadcasting
networks.  (TechWire 17 Sep 97)