Encryption sales ban costs U.S. $60 billion

[DRG]

Nothing like boiling things down to the bottom dollar to make the media
pay attention. The following brief ran in the business section of the 
S.F. Examiner:

ENCRYPTION SALES BAN COSTS U.S. $60 BILLION

NEW YORK U.S. companies will lose as much as 30 percent of the $200 
billion in U.S. computer system sales expected in 200 because of federal 
export laws that limit the encryption of information, a recent study found.

The study was sponsored by 13 large U.S. technology companies.  The 
group, known as the Computer Systems Policy Project, includes 
International Business Machines Corp., the workd's larges computer maker, 
and AT&T corp., the nation's biggest phone company.

"It's the first time anyone has set out to show the real economic impact 
export laws have," said Jeff Rulifson, director of technology development 
as Sun Microsystems Inc., one of the study's sponsors.

The government prevents U.S. companies from exporting hard-to-break 
computer codes that turn information, such as files and credit card 
numbers, into indecipherable material that can be sent across computer 
networks without fear of tampering.


-- quoted without permission.