[1612] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Clinton: "Freeh's Crypto Proposal is Not Mine" (??!!)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vin McLellan)
Wed Sep 24 13:56:02 1997
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 13:07:31 -0500
To: cryptography@c2.net, cyberpunks@algebra.com
From: Vin McLellan <vin@shore.net>
Source: San Jose Mercury News
<http://www.sjmercury.com/gmsv/>
Administration opposes domestic controls
Clinton gives encryption word
BY DAVID L. WILSON Mercury News Staff Writer
Silicon Valley executives got some reassurance but no promises
from President Clinton at a private dinner and fundraiser Saturday
that the White House will stand firm against FBI calls for controls
on domestic encryption.
The president went out of his way to reassure a number of
executives in private conversations. ``He said the sorts of domestic
controls on encryption now being considered in Congress are not
supported by the administration,'' said Jim Bidzos, president of RSA
Data Security Inc. of Redwood City, which controls the most commonly
used forms of encryption. Other executives who attended the
gathering but asked for anonymity confirmed his account.
Bidzos said he hopes the president's statement, made in San
Francisco, indicates that the White House will stand firm against
congressional legislation that would restrict the types of
encryption that could be used domestically. ``I'm very encouraged,''
he said.
Last month, FBI Director Louis Freeh called for lawmakers to
criminalize possession of encryption technologies that don't include
a ``back door'' that give authorities access to the scrambled data.
Encryption lets users scramble data, making the information
appear as gibberish to anyone who does not possess the special
software ``key'' needed to decode the encrypted data. The
administration has proposed requiring the use of ``key recovery''
systems to provide a back door, but only on government-supported
networks.
Published Tuesday, September 23, 1997, in the San Jose Mercury
News
Vin McLellan + The Privacy Guild + <vin@shore.net>
53 Nichols St., Chelsea, MA 02150 USA <617> 884-5548
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