LYNX-DEV escrow / recovery details

[Carl Reimann]

        From Oct 17 Edupage:

"KEY RECOVERY" REPLACES "KEY ESCROW" IN ENCRYPTION PLAN

The latest government proposal for encryption software controls touts
a new approach called "key recovery."  This provision would allow law
enforcement officials to rebuild, or "recover" the mathematical key to
encoded messages with the help of third-party code-breakers.  The new
policy reflects suggestions made in a National Research Council report
released earlier this year.  Under the Clinton plan, encryption keys
would be expanded from 40 bits to 56 bits in products to be exported,
provided the company agrees to the key recovery process.  In addition,
authority to issue licenses for overseas sales of such products would
move from the State Department, where they're handled as "munitions,"
over to the Commerce Department.  The Business Software Alliance,
however, is still not completely happy with the compromise.  "We
expect to go back to Congress," says a BSA spokeswoman.  "Although the
announcement was clearly a step in the right direction, it's not at
all what the industry was looking for in its entirety."  (Investor's
Business Daily 17 Oct 96 A4)

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