Now, today's vote doesn't mean that the bill will move to the floor unmolested, and it doesn't mean that all its problems have been fixed. The Judiciary Committee doesn't have jurisdiction over export relaxations, and the bill's opponents pledged to fight when the measure moves to the International Relations committee. High and low points of today's hearing. The heinous section of the law that would create broad new Federal felonies for some uses of crypto was replaced. It's a solid improvement, but this language still has no business becoming law.
Problem is, nobody seems to have the balls to stand up and yank it.
But it doesn't seem likely. The word on the streets is compromise. Hyde, chair of House Judiciary, brokered a meeting in his offices yesterday bringing together spooks, law enforcement, Goodlatte, and staffers. But with the NSA's help, cops were able to tunnel through it. At least when the NRC report came out last year, not one investigation was derailed through the use of crypto.