[241] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: European crypto export policy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff A. Hale)
Tue Feb 18 10:33:32 1997
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 02:28:08 -0600 (CST)
To: cryptography@c2.net
From: "Jeff A. Hale" <csla@intersurf.com>
At 02:39 AM 2/18/97 +0100, you (Ulf M=F6ller) wrote:
>Swedish Datateknik 97-02 features an article about how COCOM/ Wassenaar
>Arrangement effects Swedish crypto exports.
>
>I wonder if someone whose Swedish is better than mine could summarize
>the article? It is at http://www.et.se/datateknik/arkiv/97-02/5.html
>
>Datateknik 97-01 reports about pressure for crypto regulations from
>the US, but also from the EU and OECD [the OECD turned out not to
>endorse key escrow shortly after the article was published]. The
>Swedish government is currently collecting facts and opinions; so far
>it remains an open question which standpoint it will take. England is
>preparing a law similar to the French one, while there are policy
>discussions similar to the Swedish going on in Germany and Denmark,
>says G=F6ran Axelsson, Sweden's representative in the EU's IT security
>body.
The Japanese are not far behind. Using the emotional -- and often
successful -- pretext of "anti-terrorism," (the subway gassing allegedly
committed by the "Aum Cult"), the Japanese Ministry of Justice (JMOJ) is
about to propose a sweeping new wiretapping/electronic eavesdropping statute
-- which insiders predict will sail through the Diet (national legislature).
In addition to wiretapping and eavesdropping on ALL communications,
including Internet browsing records, the new Japanese statute will implement
the first stage of mandatory key escrow.
They SAY they will always get court orders. But few are willing to publicly
speculate about the raw temptation of police and "national security forces"
having access to so much private information. And don't forget that Japan
has no Freedom of Information Act; how the hell would one ever find out how
much illegal surveillance was going on? It is chilling, and a pity, as
Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution has been widely considered one of
the most comprehensive privacy protections in the world.
Pressure from the U.S. Government, dating to Reagan, has unquestionably
"influenced" the Japanese on these issues. Just as the World Trade Center
and Oklahoma City bombings have given rise to new "anti-terrorism"
legislation in the U.S. (all of which spells further trouble for 4th
Amendment privacy protections), so too has the subway gassing incident in
Japan allowed the forces of the national security state to frame the terms
of the debate on eavesdropping and key escrow debate. The privacy lobby
there is in its infancy, and will not be able to wage anything like the type
of campaign happening in the U.S. over the CDA.
It is almost as if these intelligence bureaucracy guys in all cultures
(praetorian guards) wait and pray for such heinous incidents -- so they can
say "I told you so," and propose new initiatives promising a little more
security for a small reduction privacy (they like to call this "balancing
interests"). Incrementally, often without realizing it, entire nations
abandon their right to privacy.
Dr. Jeff Hale
csla@intersurf.com
