PRESS RELEASE Association for Computing U.S. Public Policy Office September 8, 1997 USACM APPLAUDS CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE FOR UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSING RELAXED EXPORT CONTROLS ON ENCRYPTION As the Congress prepares to address the issue of computer security and privacy, the California legislature has sent a clear message that relaxing controls on cryptography is a critical first step. On September 5, the California legislature passed a resolution that calls on the California members in Congress to support legislation that would make it easier for US companies to develop and market strong cryptography products. The resolution was sponsored by Representative Vasconcellos (D. San Jose) and passed without opposition. Dr. Barbara Simons, chair of the policy committee for the Association for Computing (USACM), said that the California resolution makes clear that industry and users are united in support of good cryptography. "We believe that Congress should support the Security and Freedom Act, sponsored by Representative Goodlatte. The legislation will help protect security and privacy on the internet. It will be a serious mistake for the administration to oppose the development of this technology," said Dr. Simons. On August 26, USACM Chair Barbara Simons spoke in support of the Vasconcellos resolution before a California Senate committee. Also participating at the Committee hearing were Dr. Whit Diffie from Sun, Kelly Blough from PGP, Jack Wilson of ACL Datacom, Chuck Marson representing the California Internet Industry Alliance (Netscape, Microsoft, AOL, CompuServe and Netcom), and a representative of the Software Publishers Association. Undersecretary of Commerce Reinsch wrote a letter opposing the resolution. The Association for Computing (ACM) is an international non-profit educational and scientific society with 76,000 members worldwide, 60,000 of whom reside in the U.S. USACM, the Association for Computing's U.S. Public Policy Office, serves as the focal point for ACM's interaction with U.S. government organizations, the computing community and the U.S. public in all matters of U.S. public policy related to information technology. The USACM web site is located at http://www.acm.org/usacm/ For more information, please contact USACM Chair Barbara Simons at 408/256-3661 or USACM Associate Director Lauren Gelman at 202/544-4859. /\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Association for Computing, + http://www.acm.org/usacm/ Office of U.S. Public Policy * +1 202 544 4859 (tel) 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 302 B * +1 202 547 5482 (fax) Washington, DC 20003 USA + gelman@acm.org To subscribe to the ACM Washington Update, send e-mail to: listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE name" (no quotes) in the body of the message.