Belgium has 'key escrow' law
Surprise, surprise. Today's issue of 'De Standaard', Flanders' most respected newspaper, reports that - much to everybody's amazement - Belgium has a key escrow law in working order - or almost... The newspaper states that certain articles of a much 'broader' law that was passed on the 21th of December 1994, if enforced - which to date has _not_ been the case, would imply that encryption of computer messages is illegal unless the private key is registered with the BIPT (the Belgian Institute for Postal services and Telecommunication; a government administration that regulates the telecom sector). At the time of enactment these articles went almost completely unnoticed - hence the amazement. As mentioned, said articles are not enforced yet but it now appears that a working group, called Belinfosec (Belgium Information & Security), led by a colonel of the military intelligence services - no less, is preparing a report which would contain further specifications and would propose enacting clauses. Note that at present there is already legislation up and working that enables Belgian law enforcement to tap telephone lines 'in specific circumstances' (i.e., suspicion of criminal or terroristic activities). Judging by the newspaper article it will not be long before this will include computer messages. Asked for a reaction, officials from the banking sector reacted with both disbelief and outrage. The article quotes the head of security at Banksys (the interbank consortium that operates Belgium's nation-wide ATM/POS-network) who considers it to be "unacceptable" and "an intrusion on privacy" if government authorities were to be able to monitor all the money flows that pass through the Banksys network. He also fears that once revealed to the authorities, the keys might fall into the wrong hands, thus jeopardizing the system's security. I'll try to find out more and keep you informed. Ciao, leo P.S. I'm not on the cpx mailing list, so please Cc me. _________________________________________________________________________ Leo Van Hove Centre for Financial Economics Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) Pleinlaan 2 B-1050 Brussels Vox: +32 2 629.21.25 Fax: +32 2 629.22.82 e-mail: lvhove@vnet3.vub.ac.be VUB's Web site: http://www.vub.ac.be _________________________________________________________________________
Leo, I read with wry amusement that "...enactment of these [register keys or else!] articles went almost completely unnoticed...." Here's ANOTHER "almost completely unnoticed" item: On 10 02 95 The Electronic Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk), in a newsstory headlined "Plan to police e-mail seems [!] certain to fail," reports that In France, it is illegal to use any kind of encryption, and police can arrest the authors of any e-mail which they cannot understand. My question: In Europe, is anyone working on translating plaintext 1 into plaintext 2, so that the latter serves to encrypt the former? Plaintext 2 will have to be good enough to satisfy the gendarm- erie, which NEVER fails to notice enactment of electronic-baton laws. Cordially, Jim INCLOSURE: Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 14:16:06 +0100 From: Leo Van Hove <lvhove@vnet3.vub.ac.be> To: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Belgium has 'key escrow' law Surprise, surprise. Today's issue of 'De Standaard', Flanders' most respected newspaper, reports that - much to everybody's amazement - Belgium has a key escrow law in working order - or almost... The newspaper states that certain articles of a much 'broader' law that was passed on the 21th of December 1994, if enforced - which to date has _not_ been the case, would imply that encryption of computer messages is illegal unless the private key is registered with the BIPT (the Belgian Institute for Postal services and Telecommunication; a government administration that regulates the telecom sector). At the time of enactment these articles went almost completely unnoticed - hence the amazement. As mentioned, said articles are not enforced yet but it now appears that a working group, called Belinfosec (Belgium Information & Security), led by a colonel of the military intelligence services - no less, is preparing a report which would contain further specifications and would propose enacting clauses. v Note that at present there is already legislation up and working that enables Belgian law enforcement to tap telephone lines 'in specific circumstances' (i.e., suspicion of criminal or terroristic activities). Judging by the newspaper article it will not be long before this will include computer messages. Asked for a reaction, officials from the banking sector reacted with both disbelief and outrage. The article quotes the head of security at Banksys (the interbank consortium that operates Belgium's nation-wide ATM/POS-network) who considers it to be "unacceptable" and "an intrusion on privacy" if government authorities were to be able to monitor all the money flows that pass through the Banksys network. He also fears that once revealed to the authorities, the keys might fall into the wrong hands, thus jeopardizing the system's security. I'll try to find out more and keep you informed. Ciao, leo P.S. I'm not on the cpx mailing list, so please Cc me. _________________________________________________________________________ Leo Van Hove Centre for Financial Economics Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) Pleinlaan 2 B-1050 Brussels Vox: +32 2 629.21.25 Fax: +32 2 629.22.82 e-mail: lvhove@vnet3.vub.ac.be VUB's Web site: http://www.vub.ac.be _________________________________________________________________________
participants (2)
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James M. Cobb -
lvhove＠vnet3.vub.ac.be