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Senate Commitee Approves Domestic Key- Recovery Bil
(1) SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE APPROVES DOMESTIC KEY-RECOVERY BILL
The Senate Commerce Committee today approved the McCain-Kerrey "Secure
Public Networks Act" (S. 909) - a bill which for the first time would
impose domestic restrictions on the ability of Americans to protect their
privacy and security in their own homes.
CDT believes that S. 909 represents a grave threat to privacy and security
on the Internet. The bill all but mandates domestic key recovery and key
escrow encryption to provide guaranteed government access to private
communications and stored files. The bill would also codify into law the
56-bit limit on encryption exports, link certificate authorities to
key-recovery, and create 15 new crimes relating to encryption.
S. 909 now replaces Pro-CODE in the Senate. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT),
the lead author of Pro-CODE, mounted a last-ditch campaign to block the
key-recovery provisions of the McCain-Kerrey bill. His effort lost on a
vote of 12 - 8 (votes are listed below)
CDT believes that S. 909, if passed into law, would amount a full scale
assault on your ability to protect your privacy and security on the
Internet.
The bill would create a ubiquitous global key-recovery infrastructure - an
untested idea which 11 of the world's leading cryptographers have said
"will result in substantial sacrifices in security and cost to the end
user. Building a secure infrastructure of the breathtaking scale and
complexity demanded by [the government's] requirements is far beyond the
experience and current competency of the field."
Though McCain offered his bill as a compromise between the Clinton
Administration's position and Congressional efforts to reform US Encryption
policy, in reality S. 909 closely mirrors draft legislation proposed by the
Clinton Administration earlier this year.
Specifically, the McCain-Kerrey bill would:
* Compel Americans to Use Government-Approved Key Recovery Systems
* Make Key Recovery a Condition Of Participation in E-Commerce
* Allow Government Carte Blanche Access to Sensitive Encryption Keys
Without a Court Order
* Create New Opportunities for Cybercrimes
* Codify a low 56-bit Key Length Limit on Encryption Exports
* Create Broad New Criminal Penalties for the Use of Encryption
The full text of the bill, along with a detailed analysis of S. 909, an
analysis of the constitutional issues raised by the key-recovery
provisions, and the amendments (when available) is available online at
http://www.cdt.org/crypto/
One encouraging development was the adoption of an amendment offered by
Senator Frist (R-TN) which would requiring the government to demonstrate
the key recovery will work before such systems are deployed. Senator Frist
cited the recently released "Risks of Key Recovery" study as the reason for
offering the amendment. The committee also approved several other
amendments - though none substantially change the bill or address any of
the serious privacy and security concerns raised by compelled domestic key
recovery.
________________________________________________________________________
VOTE COUNT
Senator Conrad Burns' (R-MT) effort to block the McCain-Kerrey bill was
defeated by a vote of 12 - 8. The 8 Senators who voted with Burns deserve
a great deal of credit for standing up for the Net.
Voting to block S. 909 Voting to Support S. 909
------------------------ --------------------------
Abraham (R-MI) Breaux (D-LA)
Aschroft (R-MO) Bryan (D-NV)
Brownback (R-KS) Ford (D-KY)
Burns (R-MT) Frist (R-TN)
Dorgan (D-ND) Hollings (R-SC)
Gorton (R-WA) Hutchinson (R-TX)
Lott (R-MS) Inouye (D-HI)
Wyden (D-OR) Kerry (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stevens (R-AK)
To keep up to date on your Senator's position on this and other Internet
related policy issues, join the Adopt Your Legislator Campaign. Visit
http://www.crypto.com/adopt for details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT STEPS
There is a good chance the bill will be referred to the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which has scheduled hearings on encryption for next Wednesday
June 25. A number of Judiciary Committee members have expressed concerns
about the key recovery provisions of the McCain-Kerrey bill.
The House International Relations Trade subcommittee is expected to vote on
the SAFE bill next week. The SAFE bill would relax US encryption export
controls and does not contain key recovery provisions. The bill, sponsored
by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), enjoys broad bi-partisan support.
CDT will continue to fight the key-recovery provisions of S. 909 and work
to ensure that Congress passes meaningful encryption policy reform
legislation which does not force American citizens to provide guaranteed
government access to their private communications and stored files.
Visit http://www.cdt.org/crypto for the latest news and information.
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