Haven't seen it discussed here, but the August 28, 1995 issue of Lan Times covers Sen. Charles Grassley's (R-IOWA) Senate Bill 974. Frankly, you should probably read the text of the bill itself, because the article doesn't seem to get the facts straight. The article asserts first that the bill may outlaw any non-GAK encryption, but then quotes the senator as saying ``All my bill does is say you can't use computers to steal, to threaten others or conceal criminal conduct.'' Perhaps concealing criminal conduct is considered using non-GAK. The quote from the bill itself reads like the ITAR; it is illegal to ``distribute computer software that encodes or ecrypts electronic or digital communications to computer networks that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is accessible to foreign nationals and foreign governments, regardless of whether such software has been designated as nonexportable." The article also says that up to 64 bit keys may now be allowed in exportable software, but that ``some experts'' suggest that those keys may have to be GAK. I've never heard anything BUT the keys would have to GAK. David Neal <dneal@usis.com> - GNU Planet Aerospace 1-800-PLN-8-GNU Unix, Sybase and Networking consultant. "...you have a personal responsibility to be pro-active in the defense of your own civil liberties." - S. McCandlish