Making Encryption Available Making Encryption Available Advances in software technology have driven changes in the administration and content of intellectual property law on questions such as user interface copyright protection and the patentability of algorithms. In general the impact of these changes is relatively narrow, being limited mainly to people who are active in software and related industries. But occasionally a software-related advance has the potential to cause changes that will be felt more widely throughout society.
Cryptography is such an advance.
One widely-used analogy holds that encryption in the digital world is like envelopes in the world of paper. People normally place both their personal and business communications in a sealed opaque container, namely, an envelope, before committing them to the channels of transportation that connect senders and receivers. People rarely use the open medium of a postcard to carry their messages, even when those messages contain no earth-shaking secrets. Yet many people routinely place their e-mail on the net without a digital 'envelope' that discourages unauthorized reading or modification of their messages. One reason cryptography is not used more widely is that U.S. export laws discourage the development of secure commercial cryptographic software by severely limiting the export of such software.