From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 8bc70e57e33780a19156612d807dab1e205210aaf2b3ec59e59545d2d48e7f67
Message ID: <199605301742.KAA17655@toad.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1996-05-31 00:14:06 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 08:14:06 +0800
From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 08:14:06 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: NRC Cryptography Report: The Text of the Recommendations
Message-ID: <199605301742.KAA17655@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Recommendation 1: No law should bar the manufacture, sale, or use of
any form of encryption within the United States.
Recommendation 2: National cryptography policy should be developed by
the executive and legislative branches on the basis of open public
discussion and governed by the rule of law.
Recommendation 3: National cryptography policy affecting the
development and use of commercial cryptography should be more closely
aligned with market forces.
Recommendation 4: Export controls on cryptography should be
progressively relaxed but not eliminated.
4.1 -- Products providing confidentiality at a level that
meets most general commercial requirements should be easily
exportable. Today, products with encryption capabilities that
incorporate 56-bit DES provide this level of confidentiality
and should be easily exportable.
4.2 -- Products providing stronger confidentiality should be
exportable on an expedited basis to a list of approved
companies if the proposed product user is willing to provide
access to decrypted information upon legally authorized request.
4.3 -- The U.S. government should streamline and increase the
transparency of the export licensing process for cryptography.
Recommendation 5: The U.S. government should take steps to assist law
enforcement and national security to adjust to new technical realities
of the information age.
5.1 -- The U.S. government should actively encourage the use of
cryptography in nonconfidentiality applications such as user
authentication and integrity checks.
5.2 -- The U.S. government should promote the security of the
telecommunications networks more actively. At a minimum, the
U.S. government should promote the link encryption of cellular
communications and the improvement of security at telephone
switches.
5.3 -- To better understand how escrowed encryption might
operate, the U.S. government should explore escrowed
encryption for its own uses. To address the critical
international dimensions of escrowed communications, the U.S.
government should work with other nations on this topic.
5.4 -- Congress should seriously consider legislation that
would impose criminal penalties on the use of encrypted
communications in interstate commerce with the intent to
commit a federal crime.
[Page 28 of the "Overview and Recommendations". There's a lot
more discussion of each of these in the whole overview, which should
be up on the web late today at www2.nas.edu/cstbweb/.]
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