Excerpt from Congressional Record, April 2, 1998: WAKE-UP CALL ON ENCRYPTION Mr. LEAHY. In my view, encryption legislation should promote the following goals: First, legislation should ensure the right of Americans to choose how to protect the privacy and security of their communications and information; Second, legislation should bar a government-mandated key escrow encryption system; Third, legislation should establish both procedures and standards for access by law enforcement to decryption keys or decryption assistance for both encrypted communications and stored electronic information and only permit such access upon court order authorization, with appropriate notice and other procedural safeguards; Fourth, legislation should establish both procedures and standards for access by foreign governments and foreign law enforcement agencies to the plaintext of encrypted communications and stored electronic information of United States persons; Fifth, legislation should modify the current export regime for encryption to promote the global competitiveness of American companies; Sixth, legislation should not link the use of certificate authorities with key recovery agents or, in other words, link the use of encryption for confidentiality purposes with use of encryption for authenticity and integrity purposes; Seventh, legislation should, consistent with these goals of promoting privacy and the global competitiveness of our high- tech industries, help our law enforcement agencies and national security agencies deal with the challenges posed by the use of encryption; and Eighth, legislation should protect the security and privacy of information provided by Americans to the government by ensuring that encryption products used by the government interoperate with commercial encryption products. Do you agree with these goals? Mr. ASHCROFT. Yes, I agree with these goals and will look to these same items as a reference point for the drafting, introducing and passage of encryption reform legislation. Mr. LEAHY. Would the Senator agree to work with me on encryption legislation that achieves these goals and that we could bring to the floor this Congress? Mr. ASHCROFT. Yes. I believe it is critical for us to address this issue and soon. I also believe that we should work together to produce a piece of legislation that demonstrates our position on encryption policy. ----- Full remarks: http://jya.com/wakeup-call.txt (18K)