To my non-surprise, even the House is getting in on the "ban crypto" bandwagon. This just in (excerpted, to limit copyright infringement...read the full article in your Yahoo or the like service) Wednesday September 10 2:52 PM EDT House Panel Votes To Tighten Encryption Controls By Aaron Pressman WASHINGTON - The House National Security Committee has approved a proposal to tighten already strict U.S. export controls on computer encoding technology, dealing a surprise setback to legislation that would have relaxed the limits. In a 45 to 1 vote, the committee adopted an amendment from Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Calif.) that would condition all exports of coding technology on the potential for harm to national security. Software companies, civil libertarians and Internet user groups were stunned by the amendment, which they said gutted the bill under consideration. Coding technology, or encryption, uses mathematical formulas to scramble information such as electronic mail or a credit card number sent over the Internet to prevent hackers from stealing the information. Encryption has become an increasingly critical means of securing online commerce and global communications. Under current policy, U.S. companies can only export encryption products offering a weak degree of protection, unless the products also allow the government to decode covertly any coded message. The Weldon-Dellums amendment requires the president to set "the maximum level of encryption strength that could be exported from the United States ... without harm to the national security of the United States." Products at or below the established level could be exported after a one-time review specified by the secretary of commerce with the concurrence of the secretary of defense. The president would be required to review the established level annually to determine if it should be changed without harming national security. Representatives of software companies were aghast after the vote. "This is a disaster," said Rebecca Gould, vice president for public policy at the Business Software Alliance. "This was a bold step backward," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a cyberspace civil liberties group. "It is worse than the status quo..... [rest elided] --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."