Subject: Alert--Admin. names escrow agents, no compromise on Clipper - 7 files

From: [email-masked] (Stanton McCandlish)
Date: 4 Feb 1994 18:21:05 -0600

EFF Press Release            04/04/94             * DISTRIBUTE WIDELY *

At two briefings, Feb. 4, 1994, the Clinton Administration and various
agencies gave statements before a Congressional committee, and later
representatives of civil liberties organizations, industry spokespersons
and privacy advocates.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation's position,
based on what we have seen and heard from the Administration today, is
that the White House is set on a course that pursues Cold War national
security and law enforcement interests to the detriment of individual
privacy and civil liberties.

The news is grim.  The Administration is:

 * not backing down on Clipper
 * not backing down on key escrow
 * not backing down on selection of escrow agents
 * already adamant on escrowed key access procedures
 * not willing to elminate ITAR restrictions
 * hiding behind exaggerated threats of "drug dealers" and "terrorists"

The material released to the industry and advocacy version of the briefing
have been placed online at ftp.eff.org (long before their online
availability from goverment access sites, one might add).  See below for
specific details.

No information regarding the Congressional committee version of the briefing
has been announced.  EFF Director Jerry Berman, who attended the private
sector meeting, reported the following:

"The White House and other officials briefed industry on its Clipper chip
and encryption review. While the review is not yet complete, they have
reached several policy conclusions.  First, Clipper will be proposed as
a new Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) next Wednesday. [Feb.
9]  It will be "vountary" for government agencies and the private sector
to use. They are actively asking other vendors to jump in to make the
market a Clipper market. Export licensing processes will be speeded up but
export restrictions will not be lifted in the interests of national
security. The reason was stated bluntly at the briefing : to frustrate
competition with clipper by other powerful encryption schemes by making
them  difficult to market, and to "prevent" strong encryption from leaving
the country thus supposedly making the job of law enforcement and
intelligence more difficult.  Again in the interest of national security. Of
course, Clipper will be exportable but they would not comment on how other
governments will view this.  Treasury and NIST will be the escrow agents
and Justice asserted that there was no necessity for legislation to
implement the escrow procedures.

"I asked if there would be a report to explain the rationale for choosing
these results - we have no explanation of the Administration's thinking, or
any brief in support of the results. They replied that there would be no
report because they have been unable to write one, due to the complexity of
the issue.

"One Administation spokesperson said this was the Bosnia of
Telecommunications. I asked, if this was so, how, in the absense of some
policy explanation, could we know if our policy here will be as successful
as our policy in Bosnia?"

The announcements, authorization procedures for release of escrowed keys,
and q-and-a documents from the private sector briefing are online at EFF.

They are:

"Statement of the [White House] Press Secretary" [White House]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/wh_press_secy.statement

"Statement of the Vice President" [very short - WH]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/gore_crypto.statement

"Attorney General Makes Key Escrow Encryption Announcements" [Dept. of Just.]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/reno_key_escrow.statement

"Authorization Procedures for Release pf Emcryption Key Components in
Conjunction with Intercepts Pursuant to Title III/State Statutes/FISA"
[3 docs. in one file - DoJ]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/doj_escrow_intercept.rules

"Working Group on Data Security" [WH]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/interagency_workgroup.announce

"Statement of Dr. Martha Harris Dep. Asst. Secy. of State for Polit.-Mil.
Affairs: Encryption - Export Control Reform" [Dept. of State]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/harris_export.statement

"Questions and Answers about the Clinton Administration's Encryption 
Policy" [WH]
file://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/wh_crypto.q-a

These files are available via anonymous ftp, or via WWW at:
http://www.eff.org/ in the "EFF ftp site" menu off the front page.

Gopher access:
gopher://gopher.eff.org/
Look in "EFF Files"/"Papers and Testimony"/"Crypto"

All 7 of these documents will be posted widely on the net immediately
following this notice. 

Contacts:

Digital Privacy: Jerry Berman, Exec. Director <[email-masked]>
                 Daniel J. Weitzner, Sr. Staff Counsel <[email-masked]>
Archives: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist <[email-masked]>
General EFF Information: [email-masked]
 
-- 
Stanton McCandlish * [email-masked] * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
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-- 
Stanton McCandlish * [email-masked] * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
F O R   M O R E   I N F O,    E - M A I L    T O:     I N F O @ E F F . O R G 
O  P  E  N    P  L  A  T  F  O  R  M     O  N  L  I  N  E    R  I  G  H  T  S
V  I   R   T   U   A   L   C  U   L   T   U   R   E      C  R   Y   P   T   O