President Clinton raised a few eyebrows recently when he announced support
for the Internet Tax Freedom Act, a bill that places a moratorium on new
taxes applying only to the Internet.
The president is right to be concerned. The nation's 30,000 state and local
taxing authorities could well strangle cyberspace with new levies.
But another set of policies supported by the Clinton administration has
shackled Internet commerce and hampered the Net's communications potential:
controls on data encryption.
Encryption programs are mathematical formulas that scramble messages sent
over data networks.
Effective encryption could make any electronic messageincluding e-mail,
a cell-phone call or a wire transferindecipherable to anyone except the
sender and the intended recipient.
As more people rely on computers, the demand for security in cyberspace
will skyrocket. In an online world, encryption can be an effective way for
people to enhance their security.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution affirms the right of all individuals
to "be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures."
But the Clinton administration and its allies in law enforcement don't want
communications to be private.
With this in mind, the Department of Commerce recently established the President's
Export Council Subcommittee on Encryption, a 20-member panel with representatives
from law enforcement agencies, high-tech companies and financial institutions.
But it won't be debating the merits of strong encryption. Instead, it will
merely rubber-stamp proposals to compromise your privacy that the administration
has been hawking unsuccessfully for six years.
Whenever possible, the Clinton administration has discussed encryption policy
away from public scrutiny. The panel will continue that practice.
Neither the Web site operated by the Department of Commerce (www.doc.gov)
nor the main White House site (www.whitehouse.gov) lists the subcommittee,
its mission or its members.
An article in CyberWire Dispatch newsletter notes that ""all members
have received security clearances, and some future meetings will be closed
to the public.''Despite its importance, the subcommittee has attracted little
attention from the mainstream press.
A search of the commercial database Nexis lists only three references to
the group: a press release from a corporate member and two federal daybook
notices of an initial Feb. 23 meeting, which no major news service covered.
If encryption policy is set behind closed doors, the privacy of every law-abiding
American will be left to the whims of regulators, cops and spooks. Current
controls date back to the Cold War, when encryption was treated like a weapon.
Commerce now regulates encryption, and it has relaxed some controls.
But the restrictions have frozen a fast-moving technology in place, making
it vulnerable to hacker attacks, with the feds unwilling to loosen their
grip on encryption without a struggle.
Consider "key recovery," the Clinton administration's latest plan
to monitor the communications of anyone who uses online services or wireless
phones.
Anyone using key-recovery software would have to deposit the "keys"
that scramble and un scramble their messages with a "trusted third
party" (something resembling an escrow agency) that the government
could approach if it wanted to intercept private transmissions.
Buying key-recovery software would amount to giving government agents the
key to your house and trusting that they will never drop by unannounced.
It's an invitation for law enforcement agencies (including tax collectors)
to monitor anyone who uses encryption programs.
And if you think constitutional guarantees would protect your privacy as
long as you keep your nose clean, you haven't been reading the key-recovery
proposals Congress is considering.
One bill would allow the cops to acquire your keys if they obtained a subpoenaeasy
to getrather than the search warrant typically required to tap a telephone.
Another would have made the mere possession of encryption software without
key-recovery features a criminal offense.
The National Sheriffs' Association, whose president is part of the new panel,
wants the cops given immediate access to encrypted messages without even
obtaining a search warrant or even a subpoena.
FBI Director Louis Freeh has repeatedly told Congress the administration
would demand key- recovery provisions as part of any new encryption law.
Law enforcement officials claim that allowing strong encryption will prevent
them from stopping terrorists, drug dealers and pedophiles. But criminals
won't hand their encryption keys over to a government-friendly third party.
Secure encryption can help make sure the Fourth Amendment remains as important
in the online world as it was in the days of quill pens and inkwells.