House Committee Casts Wide Net With Encryption Vote . The House Select Committee on Intelligence, in a vote that critics said would effectively outlaw software as we know it, on Thursday endorsed an FBI-backed encryption proposal requiring all data scrambling technology to be equipped with a spare key for law enforcement. The proposal would establish the first controls on domestic encryption technology and mandate a decryption system, called key recovery, that would give law enforcement access to computer communications with a court order. The bill casts such a wide net that software makers said it would cover virtually every type of software made today. There were also questions about its impact on telecommunications, such as digital phones.
Committee votes for crypto restrictions .
After weeks of haggling over the rights of the people vs. the rights of the police, the House Select Committee on Intelligence sided with the police Thursday. The measure was presented as an alternative to the Security and Freedom through Encryption Act, a proposal originally written to abolish nearly all export controls on encryption technology in the face of burgeoning competition abroad. Motorola exits Mac clone business . The decision marked the second time in less than two weeks that a major clone maker effectively has been eliminated as a competitor to Apple CNN - Mars Global Surveyor arrives at red planet . The spacecraft is now in an elliptical orbit around Mars.