Ban on Computer Encryption Resisted

A diverse array of companies and advocacy groups launched a broad media and lobbying campaign Wednesday to oppose strict U.S. export limits on computer encryption, an increasingly critical technology that scrambles information to enhance security.

The group, Americans for Computer Privacy, said it opposes any new limits on computer data-scrambling technologies and seeks relaxed exports.

“We would not turn over the keys to our front doors to the government. Why should we have to turn over the keys to our computers?” said Jack Quinn, legal counsel to the group and a former White House counsel.

Quinn said the Clinton administration had indicated it would discuss encryption with the group. “We look forward to a meaningful exchange of ideas with the administration,” he said.

High-tech companies and civil liberties groups from across the political spectrum have been at war with the Clinton administration over the regulation of encryption.

The group includes such leading high-tech companies as Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. and Palo Alto-based Sun Microsystems Inc., along with such organizations as the National Assn. of Manufacturers and telephone companies.

Encryption products use mathematical formulas to scramble information, such as a credit card number or e-mail message sent over the Internet, and render it unreadable without a password or software “key.”

That protects the information from crooks. But the Clinton administration and law enforcement agencies worry that the same protection will be used to hide illegal activities.

A variety of legislation is pending in Congress, ranging from proposals to eliminate the current export limits to plans to impose new domestic limits on codes.

Advocacy groups in the coalition range from the left-leaning cyber civil liberties group Center for Democracy and Technology to the right-tilting Americans for Tax Reform.

Several lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, attended a news conference Wednesday launching the campaign, including Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.). The three are leading sponsors of a bill to lift most export restrictions. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Conrad R. Burns (R-Mont.) also attended.

“We are in danger of losing billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of high-skilled jobs if the administration’s restrictive encryption export policies are not changed,” Goodlatte said.