[From FARNET's Washington Update. This is interesting principally for the note about the number of co-sponsors.] SEN. BURNS' ENCRYPTION BILL TO BE INTRODUCED BY END OF NEXT WEEK The third encryption bill aimed at blowing the administration's key-escrow policy out of the water is set for introduction probably late next week. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) will introduce a bill that is similar to both the Leahy and Goodlatte bills already in the Senate and House, respectively. Both prohibit a mandatory key-escrow system for the use of encryption in the United States. Both also significantly lift export restrictions on encryption software and hardware. (Export approval would be granted for any bit length that is already generally available in foreign markets. Current policy restricts the export of encryption hardware or software products with keys greater than 40 bits long.) Hill staff said yesterday that they saw strong support for the encryption bills forming in both houses. Thirty-eight co-sponsors have signed on to the Goodlatte bill in the House so far. The Burns bill is expected to garner the support of Sen. Leahy who also has a bill in the Senate. The House bill has been referred to the Judiciary committee and may be also referred to the House Committee on International Relations. The Senate expects to hold hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee sometime in June. While proponents are working to get the bill(s) passed this year, because of the elections this fall, it will be a tight schedule. Furthermore, the bills' supporters are trying to keep the three pieces of legislation from being referred to any of the intelligence or law enforcement committees where some of the strongest opposition is likely to arise. Strong encryption is generally regarded as extremely important to the success of electronic communications. The Clinton administration's various proposals for strict export restrictions and a mandatory key-escrow system have met with significant opposition from industry, privacy groups and netizens alike. Just this week, a court in California ruled that "source code" for encryption programs is speech, and therefore protected under the First Amendment. The case came at the instigation of a programmer who was forbidden to place his source code for an encryption program that he had developed on the Internet in order to get discussion on its merits from his colleagues. The ruling was just a preliminary step in order to continue with the case. It could, however, clear the way for the overruling of export restrictions on encryption source code.