The Senate Judiciary committee today heard testimony on key escrow, particularly the "Secure Public Networks Act" (S. 909) introduced last month. The Senate Commerce committee on June 19 approved the bill, backed by Sen. Bob Kerrey and Sen. John McCain, which would create a national key escrow infrastructure. Pro-encryption legislation is dead in the Senate; McCain-Kerrey has taken its place. Here's a cast of characters from today's hearing... SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R): Asked what PGP stood for. Hatch, who chaired the hearing, said "one would expect the executive branch to lead" on such an important issue but "the Clinton administration has been all over the map." Said it's time for Congress to seize the debate, that it's already "acting as a broker for these competing interests" and the Senate Judiciary committee in particular "must serve as a forum for open debate in this area." SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D): The Senate's supposed defender of crypto-freedom was at best a milquetoast one today. During his opening remarks, he refrained from criticizing bills to encourage key recovery; in fact, he argued that *he's* been pushing key recovery bills far longer than anyone else. ("There has been _one_ key recovery bill pending in the Senate in the last Congress and for most of this one. That is the ECPA, which I introduced...") Spoke against the McCain-Kerrey bill not on broad, philosophical grounds but on narrower grounds such as awarding too much discretionary power to the Commerce Secretary. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R): Tried to paint himself as someone who understands the dangers of government power by noting he joined many Republicans in opposing roving wiretaps last summer, but then spoke darkly of pedophiles armed with crypto. "Encryption is hindering the investigation of chid sex offenders," Grassley warned. He told how Colorado police couldn't break into a teen's password-protected electronic organizer where incriminating information might be stored. His continuing fixation on child molesters shone through today, as it did two years ago at a hearing for his Net-censorship bill. He concluded: "How many child molesters should go free because of encryption?" SEN. BOB KERREY (D): Perhaps gaining confidence in his political backing, Sen. Bob Kerrey spoke at length about the dangers of uncontrolled *domestic* use of crypto. "The current law is unacceptable. The status quo is unacceptable," he said. At one point he talked about scrapping any legislative changes to export rules -- and focusing instead just on domestic crypto and domestic key escrow. SEN. JOHN KYL (R): Criticized Kerrey for being too moderate. "My own view is that the legislation does not go far enough," Sen. Kyl said of the McCain-Kerrey bill. He said he was concerned about *any* changes to export controls and wanted to keep the status quo. "I don't want to be sitting up here and to have law enforcement officials say to us you had the opportunity to protect American lives and you didn't do it," Kyl said. Tossed easy lobs to FBI Director Freeh, who batted them out of the park. SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D): Said "I would echo Sen. Kyl's concerns." Noted she represented a high-tech state but still was concerned about the uncontrolled spread of encryption. Said to Freeh: "You've made a clear and compelling case for key recovery. If it was understood by the American people, they'd be supportive." Followed up on Grassley's point about the passworded organizer by asking Kerrey, "Without revealing the classified briefing you participated in and we have recently, what's puzzling me is that the Colorado law enforcement doesn't have any recourse to be able to break into a system." She said she thought that the FBI could tunnel into such a device, but FBI director Louis Freeh shook his head no. SEN. JOHN ASHCROFT (R): Emerged as a staunch crypto-defender. Asked Freeh why, if 56-bit crypto was good enough for the general public, did the administration allow banks to export 128-bit crypto? Told Freeh, "Your presumption is that law breakers will use key recovery systmes that are voluntary." Argued that "there's no need for us to pass legislation [on key recovery]... this is something to which the market is responding." Wondered why the Cali Cartel would use crypto with backdoors for the Feds. Dismissed arguments about other countries' crypto restrictions by saying: "So we have a whole bunch of other comuntries without the commitment to civil liberties we have." Controlling crypto is tricky because "we're in a universe that's dynamic," he said. "It seems to me that with our marketplace using 128-bit, we ought to be very careful about saying we can consume it, we can use it, but we can't export it." Landed a solid blow when he questioned how the "crypto-in-a-crime" provision would work if someone encrypts their tax data and is found guilty of a crime later. "Is he guilty of a second crime because he sought to protect the integrity of his tax returns with encryption?" More info: http://pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1022,00.html http://www.jya.com/declan3.txt http://www.jya.com/declan2.txt http://pathfinder.com/netly/editorial/0,1012,931,00.html http://www.well.com/~declan/fc/ -Declan ------------------------- Declan McCullagh Time Inc. The Netly News Network Washington Correspondent http://netlynews.com/