Compaq: Outstanding Products, Great New Prices. [INLINE] Digital Jam graphic Encryption battle heats up House committee set to vote next week on bill that would relax limits July 18, 1997: 1:38 p.m. ET [LINK] [INLINE] U.S. OKs Netscape exports - June 24, 1997 Encryption bill nears vote - June 4, 1997 [IMAGE] U.S. House of Representatives Infoseek search __________ ____ ____ WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The battle in Congress over export limits on computer encoding technology will heat up again next week as the House International Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill to dramatically relax the current restrictions. [INLINE] The legislation, already approved by the House Judiciary Committee, would allow U.S. companies to export powerful encryption programs, software which scrambles information and renders it unreadable without a password or software "key." [INLINE] The International Relations Committee plans to hold a vote on July 22 on the bill, authored by Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte and called the Security and Freedom through Encryption Act. [INLINE] Once the realm of spies and generals, encryption has become increasingly important as a means of securing global communications and electronic commerce over the Internet. [INLINE] The Clinton administration favors strict controls on encryption exports unless the programs allow the government to crack the codes by gaining access to the software keys. But many lawmakers oppose the limits, which they say hurt U.S. firms while allowing foreign companies to gain market share. [INLINE] The Goodlatte bill has over 190 co-sponsors, including a majority of members of the committee. [INLINE] But committee chairman Benjamin Gilman, a New York Republican, is strongly opposed and may try to amend the bill to retain most export controls, congressional staffers said. [INLINE] The substitute amendment could be modeled on encryption export provisions in a broader bill in the Senate backed by Arizona Republican John McCain and Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey, staffers said. That bill was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee last month, but a bill more similar to Goodlatte's is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. [INLINE] The McCain-Kerrey bill would allow free export of medium-strength encryption, with keys up to 56 bits long, and establish a board to consider raising the limit in the future. But the president would have the authority to overrule the board's decisions for reasons of national security. [INLINE] The vote in the International Relations Committee could be close, some lobbyists said. [INLINE] "I think the votes are there to defeat a substitute, but it's probably going to be close," said one industry lobbyist who asked not to be named. [INLINE] The Goodlatte bill would also prohibit mandatory key recovery for encryption used within the United States and criminalize the use of encryption to hide evidence of a crime. But those provisions are outside the International Relations committee's jurisdiction. [INLINE] Privacy advocates back the bill, arguing that people need unfettered access to strong encryption to protect the privacy of personal data, medical records and electronic communications. The software industry is also supporting the legislation. [INLINE] But FBI director Louis Freeh and other top law enforcement officials warn that the proliferation of strong encryption overseas will complicate the task of keeping tabs on international criminals and terrorists. Link to top home | digitaljam | contents | search | stock quotes | help Copyright © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.