|
|||||||
| Cryptome DVDs are offered by Cryptome. Donate $25 for two DVDs of the Cryptome 12-and-a-half-years collection of 47,000 files from June 1996 to January 2009 (~6.9 GB). Click Paypal or mail check/MO made out to John Young, 251 West 89th Street, New York, NY 10024. The collection includes all files of cryptome.org, cryptome.info, jya.com, cartome.org, eyeball-series.org and iraq-kill-maim.org, and 23,100 (updated) pages of counter-intelligence dossiers declassified by the US Army Information and Security Command, dating from 1945 to 1985.The DVDs will be sent anywhere worldwide without extra cost. | |||||||
3 December 1998. Add Dept of Commerce press release
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 12:32:38 -0800 (PST) From: Xena - Warrior Princess <xena@best.com> Message-Id: <199812032032.MAA10218@shell16.ba.best.com> To: cypherpunks@toad.com Thursday, 3 December 1998 12:57:40 U.S. claims success in curbing encryption trade Aaron Pressman, Reuters, Washington newsroom, 202-898-8312 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clinton administration officials Thursday said they had persuaded other leading countries to impose strict new export controls on computer data-scrambling products under the guise of arms control. At a meeting Thursday in Vienna, the 33 nations that have signed the Wassenaar Arrangement limiting arms exports -- including Japan, Germany and Britain -- agreed to impose controls on the most powerful data-scrambling technologies, including for the first time mass-market software, U.S. special envoy for cryptography David Aaron told Reuters. The United States, which restricts exports of a wide range of data-scrambling products and software -- also known as encryption -- has long sought without success to persuade other countries to impose similar restrictions. ``We think this is very important in terms of bringing a level playing field for our exporters,'' Aaron said. Leading U.S. high-technology companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., have complained that the lack of restrictions in other countries hampered their ability to compete abroad. The industry has sought to have U.S. restrictions relaxed or repealed, but has not asked for tighter controls in other countries. Privacy advocates have also staunchly opposed U.S. export controls on encryption, arguing that data-scrambling technologies provided a crucial means of protecting privacy in the digital age. ``It's ironic, but the U.S. government is leading the charge internationally to restrict personal privacy and individual liberty around the world,'' said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group. Special envoy Aaron said the Wassenaar countries agreed to continue export controls on powerful encryption products in general but decided to end an exemption for widely available software containing such capabilities. ``They plugged a loophole,'' Aaron said. The new policy also reduced reporting and paperwork requirements and specifically excluded from export controls products that used encryption to protect intellectual property -- such as movies or recordings sent over the Internet -- from illegal copying, Aaron said. Encryption uses mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software ``key.'' One important measure of the strength of the encryption is the length of the software key, measured in bits, the ones and zeros that make up the smallest unit of computer data. With the increasing speed and falling prices of computers, data encrypted with a key 40 bits long that was considered highly secure several years ago can now be cracked in a few hours. Cutting-edge electronic commerce and communications programs typically use 128-bit or longer keys. Under Thursday's agreement, Wassenaar countries would restrict exports of general encryption products using more than 56-bit keys and mass-market products with keys more than 64 bits long, Aaron said. Each country must now draft its own rules to implement the agreement.
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 15:58:34 -0500 To: cryptography@c2.net From: Kathleen Ellis <ellis@epic.org> Subject: Commerce Press release on Wassenaar "adjustment" This really is _really_ bad. Finland, Canada, Ireland..all member countries of this arrangement, had previously liberalized their encryption export policies. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF Commerce News International Trade Administration Washington, DC For Immediate Release Tuesday, December 3, 1998 Contact: Maria Harris Tildon (202)482-3809 Sue Hofer (202)482-2721 P R E S S S T A T E M E N T U.S. Applauds Agreement on Encryption in International Export Control Regime Vienna, Austria -- The United States welcomed the decision taken Thursday in Vienna by the 33 members of the Wassenaar Arrangement to modernize and improve multilateral encryption export controls. Ambassador David Aaron, the President's Special Envoy for Cryptology, said that "the international agreement reached here goes a long way toward leveling the playing field for exporters and promoting electornic commerce. It provides countries with a stronger regulatory framework to protect national security and public safety." The agreement caps a two year effort by the United States, to update international encryption export controls and to balance commercial and privacy interests with national security and public safety concerns. Thursday's agreement simplifies and streamlines controls on many encryption items and eliminates multilateral reporting requirements. Specific improvements to multilateral encryption controls include removing controls on all encryption products at or below 56 bit and certain consumer entertainment TV systems, such as DVD products, and on cordless telephone systems designed for home or office use. Wassenaar members also agreed to extend controls to mass-market encryption above 64 bits, thus closing a significant loophole in multilateral encryption controls. This gives Wassenaar member governments the legal authority to license many mass market encryption software exports which were previously not covered by multilateral controls and enables governments to review the dissemination of the strongest encryption products that might fall into the hands of rogue end users. The new controls also extend liberalized mass-market hardware below 64 bits. Until today, only mass-market software products enjoyed this liberalized treatment. "The decisions taken here in Vienna reinforce the Administration's efforts to promote a balanced encryption policy," Aaron confirmed. ### Kathleen Ellis Admin. Dir., Electronic Privacy Information Center Voice Mail: (202)298-0833 http://www.epic.org Keep up with the latest encryption news and events: http://www.crypto.org PGP 5.0 Key ID 9bf725b4 65FF B997 62B8 C396 A527 2D6A 4901 F701 9BF7 25B4