1 June 1998

    Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 09:50:46 -0400
    To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
    From: Will Rodger <rodger@worldnet.att.net>
    Subject: Freeh, Gates, Barksdale, McNealy to huddle on encryption
      contols......

    The meeting below has been conveniently sandwiched between EPIC's excellent
    encryption conference June 8 and the Business Software Alliance's CEO Forum
    June 10. It will doubtless generate plenty of conversation at coffee
    breaks........

    From:
    http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/inwo/0601/320443.html

    Tech execs will meet with the FBI over crypto
     By Will Rodger
    Inter@ctive Week Online
    June 1, 1998 4:26 AM PDT

    Tech execs will meet with the FBI over crypto Top executives from some of
    the world's largest computer hardware and software companies will meet with
    FBI Director Louis Freeh and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on June 9 to
    discuss their differences over continuing government limitations over
    powerful data-scrambling technology.

    Though a final list of attendees remains in flux, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

    Chairman Bill Gates, Netscape Communications Corp. (NSCP) CEO James
    Barksdale, America Online Inc. (AOL) Chairman Steve Case, AT&T Corp. (T)
    CEO C. Michael Armstrong, Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) Chairman and CEO
    Scott McNealy and MCI Communications Corp. (MCIC) President Timothy Price
    are all expected to attend.

    Officials were careful not to term the meeting a negotiation, but the event
    marks a watershed in the encryption debate: Never before have top
    executives from major suppliers of encryption technology met directly with
    the FBI, their main nemesis in a fight that has dragged on for more than
    five years in the nation's capital.

    The issues at stake, however, remain the same.

    Information technology executives are expected to tell Freeh that their
    future viability demands strong data-scrambling equipment to keep bank
    transactions, medical records, children's e-mail and a whole host of other
    sensitive data secure on the Internet.

    Freeh, in turn, will argue law enforcement's view of encryption: That
    encryption's ability to encode data and phone calls threatens wiretapping
    capabilities that law enforcement desperately wants to preserve.

    He is expected to repeat his demand that all encryption technologies
    include technical back doors so that police can read the encoded messages
    with spare "keys" available through court order or other lawful access.

    Easy target

    Industry and civil libertarians have rejected that approach, warning that
    such an arrangement threatens not only abuse by rogue cops but the creation
    of key repositories which would prove irresistible targets to commercially
    and politically motivated spies and saboteurs.

    Given the United States' dependence on computer networks for finance,
    medicine, utilities and other services, many security experts have
    condemned the plan as irresponsible on its face.

    "Feinstein's agenda is if the CEOs hear only what Louis Freeh has to say,
    then somehow they'll agree with him," said Peter Harter, policy counsel to
    Netscape Communications Corp. "I appreciate what she's doing, but I know
    there's still reluctance on the part of some of the CEOs." Netscape's
    Barksdale had agreed to attend nonetheless, Harter said.

    FBI Special Agent Charles Barry Smith said Freeh was eager to meet with the
    CEOs, but seemed to distance his boss from the encounter. "This is a
    meeting Sen. Feinstein arranged." Smith said. "We're just participants in
    this."

    Industry executives said the meeting is evidently in response to a letter
    delivered to Feinstein's office last March in which Silicon Valley
    executives told her they opposed current administration policy on
    encryption exports as well as FBI attempts to control domestic use of the
    technology.

    Prior to the letter, Feinstein had said she had heard nothing from her own
    state's Silicon Valley on the issue -- a contention that drew anger in
    high-tech circles when it was made.

    Feinstein on FBI's side

    Feinstein last year came out in support of the FBI's demand for controls on
    encryption worldwide. Current law controls export, but not domestic use, of
    encryption.

    Companies and activists alike have increased the pressure on Feinstein and
    her supporters since.

    The recently formed Americans for Computer Privacy, for instance, elicited
    the support of Senate Judiciary members Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., and Sen.
    Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in drafting recent legislation that would guarantee
    Americans' right to use strong encryption at will while lifting nearly all
    restrictions on export of the technology abroad.

    At the same time, the bill also penalizes use of encryption in commission
    of a crime and set up a research center for law enforcement to study ways
    to attempt to break encrypted messages.

    Civil libertarians have fought the last two provisions, saying they can
    only cast legitimate use of encryption technology in an unfavorable light
    while inviting spy agencies skilled in encryption such as the National
    Security Agency into domestic affairs.

    Notably absent from the list of invitees: public interest groups who could
    argue for civil liberties without being subject to pressures companies may
    feel from an unfriendly bureaucracy.

    Little hope for liberalization

    Activists said they saw little hope for liberalization as a result of the
    meeting.

    "The only thing that can come out of this is the industry will cave into
    FBI pressure and will act contrary to the interests of the American public
    but in their own interest," Electronic Frontier Foundation Executive
    Director Barry Steinhardt said. "It's hard to imagine the FBI is going to
    back off because Bill Gates or Jim Barksdale is in the room."

    Some industry lobbyists expressed misgivings as well. "They're going to get
    the scare speech," said one association executive who spoke only on the
    condition of anonymity. "When the next bomb goes off, they're going to be
    blamed."

    Sen. Feinstein's office failed to respond to repeated requests for an
    interview.

    Will Rodger                         Voice: +1 202-408-7027
    Washington Bureau Chief             Fax: +1 202-789-2036
    Inter@ctive Week                    http://www.interactiveweek.com
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