Another argument the U.S. government is making is that they surveyed encryption policy in various countries and "it's not beyond the pale to limit domestic encryption -- France does it, for example".

Is this an actual Administration quote? If so, they're playing with fire because France is the very same country that the US has recently accused of using its national security apparatus to spy on foreign corporations. It shouldn't be too hard to draw a link between these two policies that would cause this particular quote to blow up in the Administration's face. Phil