ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY: CONGRESSIONAL ISSUES (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised April 7, 2000 |
| Report Number |
IB96039 |
| Authors |
Marcia S. Smith, Science Policy Research Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
All parties agree that encryption is essential to the growth of electronic commerce and use of the Internet, but there is little consensus beyond that. Seven bills on encryption or computer security have been introduced in the 105th Congress. Hearings have been held in several House and Senate committees. The Administration's policy promotes the use of strong encryption, here and abroad, as long as it is designed with "key recovery" features where a "key recovery agent" holds a "spare key" to decrypt the information. The Administration would require key recovery agents to make the decryption key available to duly authorized federal and state government entities. Privacy advocates worry that law enforcement entities would have too much access to private information.
