13 January 1999

    From: "Bert-Jaap Koops" <E.J.Koops@kub.nl>
    To: cryptography@c2.net, ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk, cypherpunks@toad.com,
            krypto@rhein-main.de
    Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 15:14:29 MET
    Subject: Press release - The Crypto Controversy: no problem

    Press release - please spread widely

    ---------------------------
    The Crypto Controversy: no problem
    ---------------------------

    Tilburg, the Netherlands, 13 January 1999

    The Dutch government should do nothing about the problem that
    cryptography poses to law enforcement. All available options have more
    negative than positive consequences. This is the conclusion of

    Bert-Jaap Koops in his recently published Ph.D. thesis "The Crypto
    Controversy". Although encoding programs potentially leave
    law-enforcement powerless to wiretap communications and to conduct
    computer searches, there is not a real solution to retrieve the keys
    to decipher encoded data.

    Koops, author of the Crypto Law Survey website, conducted a four-year
    research at Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of
    Technology. He analyzed the conflict of interests that cryptography
    poses to society. On the one hand, encryption is crucial for
    information security and for protecting privacy, but on the other
    hand, it enables criminals to escape the scrutiny of law enforcement.
    Governments are trying hard to address this conflict of interests,
    but their proposals for regulation have been controversial. The
    policy debate is polarized, with privacy activists and
    law-enforcement agencies fiercely opposing each other's point of
    view.

    To address this crypto controversy, Koops discusses four possible
    solutions: building-in Law-Enforcement Access to Keys (LEAK systems),
    demanding suspects to decrypt, using alternative investigation
    measures, and doing nothing. The first option is flawed, because
    secure LEAK systems are not yet available, and criminals will anyway
    not use crypto which they know to contain a backdoor for the police.
    The second option, demanding suspects to decrypt, yields only very
    limited opportunities, because of the privilege against
    self-incrimination. Alternative investigation measures, such as using
    directional microphones and intercepting radiation from computer
    screens, can provide some leeway for the police if wiretaps lose
    their efficacy, but they are serious infringements of people's
    privacy.

    Koops concludes that, for the time being, the "zero option"
    is preferable: governments should decide upon a policy to do nothing
    about the crypto problem. To meet developments in crime and
    cryptography, this policy should be reviewed periodically. "Perhaps
    the government will slowly have to adapt to the idea that wiretapping
    is not a panacea for the information need of the police."

    As Koops suggests: "if there is no solution, there is no problem
    either." Rather than continue to worry over the crypto controversy,
    the government should concentrate its energy and resources on other
    pressing social issues which it can address.

    --------------------------
    Publication details
    --------------------------
    Bert-Jaap Koops, The Crypto Controversy. A Key Conflict in the
    Information Society. The Hague / London / Boston, Kluwer Law
    International, 1999, 301 pages, ISBN 90 411 1143 3.

    A summary and ordering information are available at

    http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/koops/thesis/thesis.htm

    -------------------------
    Curriculum vitae
    -------------------------

    Bert-Jaap Koops (1967) studied mathematics and
    literature at Groningen University. After working for Amnesty
    International for two years, he started a Ph.D. research at Tilburg
    University and Eindhoven University of Technology at the faculties of
    law, mathematics and technology management. Since October 1998, he is
    a senior research fellow at the Centre for Law, Public Administration
    and Informatization of Tilburg University.

    Koops is editor of the Dutch reference book Recht &
    informatietechnologie. He co-edited a book on Emerging Electronic
    Highways and has published widely on crypto regulation, computer
    crime, and Trusted Third Parties. He maintains an extensive worldwide
    survey of crypto laws on the Internet.
    -----------------------------

    Bert-Jaap Koops <e.j.koops@kub.nl>
    Tilburg University
    13 January 1999