From: mael@umcc.umcc.umich.edu (Reza Beha)
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 10:10:07 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: HP does it
Message-ID: <m0vOpBd-001YzgC@umcc.umcc.umich.edu>
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http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9611/15/encryption.reut/index.html
                                      
            Hewlett-Packard to unveil encryption 'breakthrough'
                                      
                                 encryption
                          links November 15, 1996
                        Web posted at: 9:00 p.m. EST
                                      
   PALO ALTO, California (Reuter) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. said Friday that
    it will unveil technology Monday that will provide a breakthrough in
    the long-deadlocked debate over use of software encoding for secure
                               data traffic.
                                      
    If the encryption technology has won the backing of industry and the
    U.S. and other governments -- which Hewlett-Packard officials say is
     the case -- the development could eliminate a key obstacle to the
              growth of electronic commerce via the Internet.
                                      
      Hewlett-Packard Chairman Lewis Platt will provide details on the
      technology, which includes technology patented by the Palo Alto
     computer giant as well as other technologies, a company spokesman
                                   said.
                                      
      Technology from RSA Data Corp. the de facto standard-setter for
    Internet security, will be involved Hewlett-Packard officials said.
                                      
   Senior Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. executives were also scheduled
       to attend Monday's news briefing at the National Press Club in
                Washington, Hewlett-Packard officials said.
                                      
     The technology will make it possible to export products containing
    so-called "strong encryption," which have not been exportable under
            national security laws dating back to the Cold War.
                                      
      Under national security law, the U.S. government has allowed the
       export of software and other computer products containing only
                   "weaker" data encryption technologies.
                                      
   Encryption has been classified as a munition because of its potential
    for use by terrorists, spies or other criminals to conceal messages.
                                      
   Encryption programs use mathematical formulae to scramble confidential
   information, such as electronic mail messages or credit card numbers,
     rendering them unreadable to computer users without a password or
             "software key" that can decode the coded material.
                                      
     For years the domestic computer industry has complained that such
     government restrictions have hampered its competitiveness in world
        markets, and that its customers did not necessarily want the
               government to be able to decode internal data.
                                      
   The industry says the laws have prevented it from offering some of the
     most recent Internet technologies, even within the United States,
      because it is impossible to prevent computer users outside U.S.
   borders from gaining access to technologies publicly available on the
                                 Internet.
                                      
      Companies and their customers want to use encryption to protect
            confidential communications and electronic commerce.
                                      
    Silicon Valley executives recently noted that consumer devices, such
      as WebTV Network's Web-browsing television device that hit store
   shelves this autumn, use the same levels of strong encryption as used
                            in military systems.
                                      
    WebTV said it is using keys composed of 128 bits, or characters, of
     data to encode and decode its communications to its set-top boxes
   providing consumers with the best level of security available over the
                                 Internet.
                                      
   The government recently proposed that the constraint be eliminated by
    providing a key recovery system, in which authorities could recover
     keys to crack messages if they received a court warrant to do so.
                                      
             Industry has rebuffed this as difficult to manage.
                                      
      The solution being offered by Hewlett-Packard would be flexible,
       allowing customers to use the levels of encryption required by
                  different governments, the company said.
                                      
    "This is going to allow very strong encryption," said a spokeswoman.
                                      
   Hewlett-Packard said its technology would provide a means of "solving
       the data security and integrity issues that have impaired and
    frightened users and companies from exploiting the full power of the
                                 Internet."
                                      
            Copyright 1996 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.