============================================================================== ___ _ _____ ____ _____ _ / _ \| | | ____| _ \_ _| | THE HOUSE PREPARES TO ENSURE ENCRYPTION | |_| | | | _| | |_) || | | | AND PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET; SAFE | _ | |___| |___| _ < | | |_| BILL (HR 695) ABOUT TO BE VOTED ON! |_| |_|_____|_____|_| \_\|_| (_) April 28, 1997 Do not forward this alert after June 1, 1997. This alert brought to you by: Americans for Tax Reform Center for Democracy and Technology Eagle Forum EF-Florida Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Privacy Information Ctr. Voters Telecommunications Watch Wired Magazine _____________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents What's Happening Right Now What You Can Do To Help Privacy And Security On The Internet Background On SAFE (HR 695) Why Is This Issue Important To Internet Users? About This Alert / Participating Organizations _____________________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON "SAFE" PRO-INTERNET PRIVACY BILL The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote on a bill designed to protect privacy and promote electronic commerce on the Internet as early as the second week of May. The SAFE bill will also be considered by a Judiciary subcommittee this week and is expected to pass without difficulty. The House Judiciary committee vote on HR695 will mark a critical stage in the effort to pass real reform of US encryption policy in a way that protects privacy, promotes electronic commerce, and recognizes the realities of the global Internet. Although no bill is perfect, Internet advocates including CDT, EFF, EPIC, VTW and others, including the Internet Privacy Coalition, have expressed support for the bill. Supporters agree that the SAFE bill holds great promise for enhancing privacy and security on the Internet and have offered their strong support and suggestions to improve it in a detailed letter at http://www.privacy.org/ipc/safe_letter.html Please take a moment to read the attached alert, and make a phone call to urge the committee to pass the bill. _______________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PRIVACY AND SECURITY ON THE INTERNET 1. Check out the information on the SAFE bill below. 2. Call the Representative on the Judiciary committee from your state. Note that there may be more than one person from your state on the committee. The list is enclosed below the telephone script. SAMPLE SCRIPT You: May I speak to the office of Rep. (INSERT NAME FROM LIST BELOW) Them: Hello, Rep. Mojo's office! You: May I speak with the staffer who deals with Internet or telecom issues? Them: One minute.. SAY You: Hello! HR695 will be voted on by the Judiciary committee in a THIS-> couple of weeks. I'm calling to urge Rep. Mojo to pass the bill because it's important to security and privacy on the Internet. Them: Thanks, goodbye! You: Goodbye! <click> If you have concerns about specific improvements to the bill, bringing them up when you're on the phone with the staffer is a good opportunity for raising issues. Judiciary Committee Members (from committee Web page) MR. HYDE (ILLINOIS), CHAIRMAN Mr. Sensenbrenner (Wisconsin) Mr. Conyers (Michigan) Mr. McCollum (Florida) Mr. Frank (Massachusetts) Mr. Gekas (Pennsylvania) Mr. Schumer (New York) Mr. Coble (North Carolina) Mr. Berman (California) Mr. Smith (Texas) Mr. Boucher (Virginia) Mr. Schiff (New Mexico) Mr. Nadler (New York) Mr. Gallegly (California) Mr. Scott (Virginia) Mr. Canady (Florida) Mr. Watt (North Carolina) Mr. Inglis (South Carolina) Ms. Lofgren (California) Mr. Goodlatte (Virginia) Ms. Jackson Lee (Texas) Mr. Buyer (Indiana) Ms. Waters (California) Mr. Bono (California) Mr. Meehan (Massachusetts) Mr. Bryant (Tennessee) Mr. Delahunt (Massachusetts) Mr. Chabot (Ohio) Mr. Wexler (Florida) Mr. Barr (Georgia) Mr. Rothman (New Jersey) Mr. Jenkins (Tennessee) Mr. Hutchinson (Arkansas) Mr. Pease (Indiana) Mr. Cannon (Utah) 3. *IMPORTANT* Touch base with us at http://www.crypto.com/feedback/ and let us know how the phone call went. Fill out the easy to use form to let us know what happened during your phone call. 4. Pass this alert on to others until June 1 You've taken the first step to being a part of the powerful political force of Americans concerned about the health and safety of the Internet, but have your friends? Forward this alert to them until June 1, 1997 and urge them to adopt their legislator at http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ 5. Be proud of yourself and relax! You've done more to protect the Internet in five minutes than many people will do this year. ________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND ON SAFE (HR 695) In early May, the Judiciary Committee will be voting on whether to send HR 695, the Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act, on to the full House of Representatives. The SAFE Bill, introduced by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), would promote privacy and security on the Internet by: * relaxing current export controls on encryption technologies; * prohibiting the government from imposing "key-escrow" or "key- recovery" inside the United States, and; * addresses concerns from law enforcement about the use of encryption in the furtherance of a crime. The SAFE bill enjoys broad bi-partisan support and currently has 78 co-sponsors. Although no bill is ever perfect, the SAFE bill, along with Pro-CODE, a similar bill in the Senate sponsored by Sens. Burns (R-MT) and Leahy (D-VT), represent the best chance yet of passing real reform of US encryption policy. The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to hold a markup on Pro-CODE soon. The Clinton Administration, through the FBI and NSA, is working hard behind the scenes to block passage of SAFE and Pro-CODE. The Administration favors an approach which would limit the availability of privacy-protecting encryption technologies and compel American Citizens to ensure law enforcement access to their private online communications. By passing the SAFE bill and sending on to the floor, the House Judiciary Committee will send a strong signal to the Administration that Congress is serious about passing real reform of US encryption policy, and would represent an important victory in the fight for privacy on the Internet. Detailed background information, including the full text of the bill, and analysis is available online at http://www.crypto.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ WHY IS THIS ISSUE IMPORTANT TO INTERNET USERS? Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age -- enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet. As more and more individuals and businesses come online, the need for strong, reliable, easy-to-use encryption technologies has become a critical issue to the health and viability of the Net. Current US encryption policy, which limits the strength of encryption products US companies can sell abroad, also limits the availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies in the United States. US hardware and software manufacturers who wish to sell their products on the global market must either conform to US encryption export limits or produce two separate versions of the same product, a costly and complicated alternative. The export controls, which the NSA and FBI argue help to keep strong encryption out of the hands of foreign adversaries, are having the opposite effect. Strong encryption is available abroad, but because of the export limits and the confusion created by nearly four years of debate over US encryption policy, strong, easy-to-use privacy and security technologies are not widely available off the shelf or "on the net" here in the US. A recently discovered flaw in the security of the new digital telephone network exposed the worst aspects of the Administration's encryption policy. Because the designers needed to be able to export their products, the system's security was "dumbed down". Researchers subsequently discovered that it is quite easy to break the security of the system and intrude on what should be private conversations. This incident underscores the larger policy problem: US companies are at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace when competing against companies that do not have such hindrances. And now, for the first time in history, the Clinton Administration has proposed DOMESTIC RESTRICTIONS on the ability of Americans to protect their privacy and security online. All of us care about our national security, and no one wants to make it any easier for criminals and terrorists to commit criminal acts. But we must also recognize encryption technologies can aid law enforcement and protect national security by limiting the threat of industrial espionage and foreign spying, promote electronic commerce and protecting privacy. What's at stake in this debate is nothing less than the future of privacy and the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for commerce, education, and political discourse. _____________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THIS ALERT / PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS For more information, contact the following organizations who have signed onto this effort at their web sites. Americans for Tax Reform http://www.atr.org Center for Democracy and Technology http://www.cdt.org Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org EF-Florida http://www.efflorida.org Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org Electronic Privacy Information Center http://www.epic.org Voters Telecommunications Watch http://www.vtw.org Wired Magazine http://www.wired.com _____________________________________________________________________________ end alert ==============================================================================