Instead, the FBI and other federal, state, and local agencies would be able to combat crime by being provided with court approved, real-time access to communiques at the point where they are sent or at the point where the message is received. Clearly, high-tech executives have not been sitting on the sidelines as the encryption debate continues. As this announcement indicates, the computer industry is working hard to find a balanced solution that ensures the needs of our law enforcement and national security communities while maintaining privacy protections for all U.S. citizens. We owe it to them, and to all Americans, to find a balanced legislative solution to encryption. Mr. President, I would also like to applaud the computer industry's efforts to find alternative technical solutions to help law enforcement with the challenge of encrypted data and communications without the need to establish a government-mandated key escrow or key recovery scheme.
American companies are desperate for a common sense approach to our export policy on encryption.
As you are well aware, the Administration, starting with Clipper Chip, has been wedded to key escrow schemes to ensure that the FBI can get access to plaintext, or unscrambled electronic data. This path has been pursued despite the serious questions that experts have raised about the costs, privacy risks and lack of consumer interest in such schemes. As U.S. companies watch their market share for computer hardware and software products erode because of our country's outdated export controls on encryption, it is imperative that the Administration direct the FBI to consider creative alternatives to key escrow. The recent announcement by several leading companies in the computer industry makes it clear that, in addressing both economic and law enforcement concerns, it is important to find a balance between the two. Those products, of course, will be a great benefit to our national security.