And the situation is only getting worse. While software piracy in China was the primary concern last year, this year the concern has shifted to piracy on the Internet. The liberalization of export laws governing encryption is another policy issue that the computer chiefs resoundingly support. It's a race between the lockmakers and the lock pickers. The panel unanimously supports the bills now in the House and Senate.
Encryption is available globally and puts U.S. business at a competitive disadvantage globally.
The idea of escrowing keys has not even been demonstrated to be feasible. Current proposals just won't work because of scope and scale. Billions of keys would need to be managed. It does not fundamentally work. No grand compromise is possible.