The operational characteristics of networking encryption products to be eligible for export under appropriate Encryption Licensing Arrangements are not complex. The ambiguity of this provision provides an opportunity to explore new approaches to exporting cryptographic products. Such products would also appear to meet law enforcement's requirements for retrieval of encrypted stored data. The networking industry proposes that certain networking encryption products described in this White Paper may receive wide market acceptance and meet the requirements of law enforcement with respect to transient data without implementing key recovery. The intelligence community's equities, though not reflected in the EAR, must be respected as well.
Strong security is essential for products that encrypt transient data.
Customers, particularly service providers, have stated repeatedly and emphatically that they will not purchase products that encrypt transient data, if those products also facilitate unauthorized, covert surveillance by third parties. The government should encourage the deployment of products that implement strong security, because such products will deter certain kinds of crimes, like theft of trade secrets by third parties. Deployment of products that encrypt transient data requires open standards. Without open standards, different vendors' products will not inter-operate, and broad deployment will not be possible. Most customers also desire the ability to respond to a court order without exposing all of their data across the Internet or the public switched telephone network.