At <http://www.us.net/~steptoe/welcome.htm>, there is a link to a paper by Stuart A. Baker, formerly (if I remember correctly) NSA's Chief Counsel. EMERGING JAPANESE ENCRYPTION POLICY by Stewart A. Baker Acouple of choice paragraphs: Japan's encryption policymaking is in its early stages, but there are strong signs that encryption is increasingly seen as a key technology for improving Japan's penetration of the Global Information Infrastructure. A highly selective (and possibly biased) sampling of informed Japanese opinion on cryptography suggests a growing determination to treat cryptography as a national Japanese economic priority. - and - For a variety of reasons, commercial interests are predominant in Japanese government thinking about encryption. Time after time during my interviews, I was reminded that Japan was an island nation that has not had to defend itself for fifty years and so has not had to confront the national security concerns associated with encryption. And Japanese police face severe political and constitutional constraints on wiretapping, so the prospect of losing this criminal investigative tool seems not to be as troubling to the Japanese government as to the United States and many European nations. There's lots more here, and I haven't read it all. -- Marshall Marshall Clow Aladdin Systems <mailto:mclow@mailhost2.csusm.edu> "Eternal vigilance is the price of PostScript" -- MacUser Jan 96 DTP and Graphics column