--- begin forwarded text To: cryptography@c2.net Cc: M Taylor <mctaylor@privacy.nb.ca>, djones@efc.ca Subject: Re: early reports from Austria: possible crypto stalemate (fwd) Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 14:04:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Don Beaver <beaver+@transarc.com> Sender: owner-cryptography@c2.net M Taylor writes:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- P.S. If anyone happens to be fluent in German, maybe you could help us by translating, or summarizing, in English:
Disclaimer: I don't make any claim to real fluency in German (I never took a class), so there may be mistakes. But I think this is pretty accurate. --Don Beaver <H2> Journalist Trade Union Protests the Cancellation of Special Arrangements for Encryption Programs in the Wassenaar Agreement </H2> <H3> At a meeting of experts on the Wassenaar Agreement in Vienna, the cancellation of exceptions for cryptographic public-domain software and shareware was negotiated. The real goal of the agreement is the control and transparency of transfers of military and so-called dual-use goods - products and technologies that can be used for both military and civilian purposes. The Wassenaar Agreement lists Information Security and encryption technology, in the form of software encryption programs or hardware, under the Dual Use category 5.2. </H3> <P> There are to be further efforts to eliminate the exceptions for public-domain cryptographic software and shareware (usually free over the Internet or by CD-ROM distribution), and thereby place each kind of encryption software under the monitoring and restriction of the Wassenaar agreement. <P> The journalist trade union is protesting vehemently, because free access by journalists and the media to encryption programs is threatened. Encryption programs play a rapidly increasing role in the protection of electronic network communications for the media and jounalists. It is not difficult to monitor electronic mail automatically and make copies without recipients or senders ever taking notice. Investigative journalism on organized crime, corruption, and illegal arms trafficking, for example, may be endangered by the lack of protected communication, because the privacy of research is not ensured, especially when it takes place internationally. <P> Not only will editorial privacy be damaged but also the protection of information sources, as well as the protection of the private sphere. Not only must the protection of communication between journalists and media be ensured but also between journalists and media and their information sources, which cannot be limited to a special circle of acquaintances. <P> Attempts to permit programs that just encode with a key whose duplicate is placed with authorities cannot provide a way out. With such duplicate keys, all encoded messages can be decoded. But there is no guarantee that this duplicate key will not arrive in the unauthorized hands of organized crime, for example, or that is it not used by individual members of the authority or intelligence services in an unauthorized manner. <P> The information surrounding the Wassenaar Agreement is also precarious: at present, each discussion in the Wassenaar Agreement falls under the privacy of "privileged diplomatic communication" (Point IX) and the application of resolutions are to be implemented using "national discretion" (Point II.3). Thus, the targets of the Wassenaar Agreement are counterproductive(?): companies whose doubtful weapons shipments were forbidden remain spared from public criticism, just like failed decisions. <H3>Therefore the journalist trade union demands:</H3> <UL> <LI> Elimination of cryptography from the list of "dual-use" goods entered by the Wassenaar Agreement. No limitation of cryptography to insecure (respectively, key duplication/escrow) encryption techniques. <LI> Democratic control/monitoring of the Wassenaar Agreement: No modification of the rules and jurisdiction of the Wassenaar Agreement without prior public discussion. <LI> Obligatory public reporting on activities in the context of the Wassenaar Agreement. </UL> --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'