Financial Times, December 21, 1995, p. 4. Encryption rules to be prepared By Andrew Jack in Paris Representatives of international business and government yesterday agreed to draw up guidelines on encryption, a system which allows computer users to transmit information electronically with little risk that it can be intercepted and understood by unauthorised "hackers". The meeting, which was held at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, could lead to formal propositions prepared jointly by business and government organisations that could be ready by as soon as next summer. Yesterday's meeting did not have any formal legal authority, but was highly significant as the first forum where so many representatives of governments businesses and computer experts met to discuss developments in encryption. Highly sophisticated encryption technology already exists in a number of countries including the US and Sweden. In the US, companies already have access to these programs. A growing number of businesses -- led by the banking sector -- are demanding access to these programs. However, many governments, including that of the US, have resisted permitting the technology to be exported because they fear it will fall into the hands of organised crime and terrorist organisations. They have demanded that they should be able to "hack" into computer transmissions for counter-intelligence and criminal investigation work, in the same way that they can conduct telephone-tapping exercises. An important conclusion of yesterday's Paris meeting was that business agreed in principle to allow such hacking to take place as long as sufficient safeguards were in place and "electronic search warrants" had been issued with proper judicial approval. A number of governments appear willing to permit relaxation of export controls on sophisticated encryption devices as long as these safeguards are in place. Among the issues that experts on both sides need to resolve are the ways in which "keys" allowing computer transmissions to be decoded would be handled. A number of business organisations have discussed the use of third-party organisations, which would be independent of government, would have the keys and would hand them over to government investigators when demands were justified. However, the organisations still have to resolve a number of issues, including how these custodians could be made legally liable for any unauthorised access to this information and for the costs of its misuse. [End] ---------- Does anyone have press reports or more information on this meeting? Any connection to the recently signed Transatlantic Agenda?