2 July 1998: Add Bellovin comment and JYA note.

2 July 1998: Link to Irish Times report on crypto policy (Thanks to O)

2 July 1998: Link to Irish government page on crypto and digsig policy (Thanks to Roy)

2 July 1998
Source: http://go2.guardian.co.uk/paper.html

Thanks to IB

The Guardian Online, Microfile, July 2, 1998

ANNOUNCING the most liberal national policy yet on the encoding of data sent over the Internet, the Irish government last week showed it has every intention of being an international centre for electronic commerce. Ireland listened to its many resident technology companies, rather than bowing to pressure from the US, which wants access to encrypted messages. Ireland places no restrictions on the use, import or export of encryption products. Individuals can choose to offer a plain text version of the encrypted document or hand over a key, if a search warrant is proffered. The document was released to coincide with the Irish visit of President Clinton’s Internet tsar, senior trade advisor Ira Magaziner, who hinted that his views on encryption diverge from those of his boss. “Within the next year, there’ll be such an availability of high-level encryption that the market will take over,” he said.

    Date: Thu, 02 Jul 1998 15:08:57 -0400
    To: declan@well.com
    From: Robert Moskowitz <rgm-int@htt-consult.com>
    Subject: Re: FC: Where to find info on Ireland's encryption policy
    Cc: jya@pipeline.com

    Date: Thu, 02 Jul 1998 18:57:31 +0000
    To: Robert Moskowitz <rgm@htt-consult.com>
    From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>
    Subject: Re: FC: U.S. export controls give boost to Irish programmers

    It turns out that the Irish proposal includes mandatory key recovery
    provisions....

JYA Note: Anonymous writes that Ireland, as a signator of the Wassenaar Arrangement, is bound to comply with its provisions for encryption controls despite recent upbeat press releases; that it's wise to be cautious of the announced "liberal crypto policy," which is probably aimed at attacting investment funds and that Ireland has already banned the use of encryption for voice communication.

A citation for the voice crypto ban is promised.