[overview and site map] |
LOOKING AHEAD |
Proposed Policies |
With the expanse of the Internet, encryption has become a major topic of concern. Many groups are fighting to relax U.S. export control on encryption. With increasing pressure to allow American companies to compete in foreign markets where products require strong encryption, a number of proposals have been written. The government, worried about foreign terrorism, has proposed to release chips, known as Clipper and Capstone, that contain "backdoors" for law enforcement to decrypt messages. Many groups oppose this policy since it can violate certain freedoms as well as hurt the attractiveness of American encryption-enabled products in foreign markets. Another proposal, the SAFE Act, opens the doors for exporting encryption products, but makes using encryption in a crime a serious federal offence. The Pro-CODE bill is another bill that relaxes, perhaps less than the SAFE Act, the control on exporting encryption. It alsobut does not include the criminal charges section. |
[overview and site map] |