| A
ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union is dedicated to defending the principles of liberty and
equality embodied in the Bill of Rights.
Atomic Energy Act
Arms Export Control Act
B
Bernstein v. Department of State, 1995
Brokat
A German supplier of secure online banking software. (See Encryption)
C
Capstone
Capstone is a chip designed to encrypt communications, such as email, between computers.
(See Encryption)
Clipper Chip
The Clipper Chip is a chip designed to encrypt communications between telephones. (See
Encryption)
COCOM
Now-abolished international organization called the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls.
Cold War institution that held strict export control policies.
Cray Research
A company that builds supercomputers. Owned by Silicon Graphics. (See Supercomputer)
E
Encryption
Encryption is a means to "garble" data in such a way that only certain people
may "ungarble" it. (See Key)
Encryption Policy Update for EAR, 1998
EPIC
The Electronic Privacy Information Center was established in 1994 to focus public
attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment,
and constitutional values.
Export Administration Act of 1979
I
IBM
A maker of supercomputers. (See Supercomputer)
International Emergency Economic Powers Act
J
Junger v. Daley, 1997
K
Karn v. Department of State, 1995
Key
A key is used in encryption to "garble" the data. Keys are usually numbers of a
certain length. The difficulty to crack an encrypted piece of data increases as the
length of the key increases. Currently, the U.S. limits exports on encryption devices that
use 56-bit encryption (keys are 56 bits in length). Most web browsers use 40-bit
encryption but can be upgraded to 128-bit encryption within the U.S. (which is recommended
by browser authors). (See Encryption)
M
MTOPS (Million Theoretical Operations Per Second)
The calculation of Mtops involves counting the number of operations that could be
performed by the computer during a second's time, based on a specified formula. This is
the unit used by the government to decide which computers may be exported. (See
Supercomputer)
P
Presidential Executive Order in 1996, "Administration
of Export Controls On Encryption Products"
Pro-CODE Act
The Promotion of Commerce in a Digital Era Act protects privacy and enhances free speech
by relaxing current export control laws on cryptography.
S
SAFE Act
Safety and Freedom through Encryption Act of 1999 relaxes U.S. export controls on
encryption but also creates a new federal crime for the use of encryption to conceal
criminal conduct.
Sun Microsystems
A company that builds high end computers. (See Supercomputer)
Supercomputer
A powerful computer, generally more powerful than consumer desktop machines. However,
recent desktops have fallen within the government definition of supercomputer based on
their Mtops score. (See MTOPS)
Supercomputer Policy Update for EAR, 1998
U
USACM
The Association for Computing Machinery U.S. Public Policy Committee serves as the focal
point for ACM's interaction with U.S. government organizations, the computing community
and the U.S. public in all matters of U.S. public policy related to information
technology.
W
Wassenaar Agreement
1996 international agreement between industrial nations to uphold certain non-proliferation
policies concerning technology exportation.
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