2 America should export encryption products and American innovation, not jobs and opportunities. Take a common sense approach to privacy. The Bill of Rights guarantees that individuals are protected from government infringement upon the right to secure their homes, papers and effects. Encryption technologies have emerged as the most commonly used method of securing information on a computer network. In addition to Constitutional protections for individual privacy, this technology is also good for consumers.
Encryption permits buyers and sellers to verify and authenticate a transaction over the Internet.
Finally, vital personal information resides on countless computer and database systems its security depends on widespread use of strong encryption. The Department of Justice is pursuing a path of increased controls on domestic use and manufacture of encryption products. Dating to the Bush administration s Clipper Chip initiative and living on through a variety of proposals by the Clinton administration, the government has sought to control domestic use of encryption. Mandatory key escrow, key recovery, trusted third party or key management systems are bad policy and should be abandoned. Any government policy that would mandate duplicate keys that allow third party or government access to private consumer transactions creates a vulnerability in the encryption product while creating a situation ripe for abuse.