http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9706/23/encryption.reut/index.html Encryption bill expected to pass House June 23, 1997 Web posted at: 10:05 p.m. EDT (0205 GMT) WASHINGTON (Reuter) -- Legislation to relax U.S. export limits on computer-encoding technology is likely to move ahead in the House of Representatives this week, despite a severe setback in the Senate last week. The House International Relations' economic policy and trade subcommittee will vote on a bill Tuesday, chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, said. Current U.S. law strictly limits export of encryption software, which scrambles information and renders it unreadable without a password or software "key." Once the realm of spies and generals, encryption has become a critical technology to safeguard electronic commerce and global communications over the Internet. In the Senate last week, a similar bill to relax encryption-export controls was torpedoed when the Senate Commerce Committee approved a substitute which would only modestly ease export restrictions. It effectively would allow the government to crack encrypted messages in the United States by gaining access to the software keys. The Clinton administration has been a strong proponent of so-called key-recovery mechanisms, arguing that the proliferation of strong encryption without key recovery would hamper law-enforcement and national security agencies' ability to keep tabs on criminals and terrorists. The House bill under consideration relaxes export rules without requiring key recovery. With 125 co-sponsors in the House, and "enthusiastic support" from industry and civil liberties and privacy advocates, the bill "is expected to be passed with limited changes," Ros-Lehtinen added. The bill could face a tougher challenge when considered by the full International Relations Committee. Chairman Benjamin Gilman, Republican of New York, is not a strong supporter of export liberalization, congressional staffers said. U.S. software companies such as Netscape Communications, and Microsoft Corp. have been clamoring for relief from encryption export controls. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.