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|  |  | To access the contents, click the chapter and section titles. Applied Cryptography, Second Edition: Protocols, Algorthms, and Source Code in C (cloth) (Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) Author(s): Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0471128457 Publication Date: 01/01/96 Search this book:
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In the end NSA disavowed Meyer’s actions and the RSA paper was presented as planned. No actions were taken against any of the inventors, although their work arguably enhanced foreign cryptography capabilities more than anything released since. The following statement by NSA discusses the export of cryptography [363]: Cryptographic technology is deemed vital to national security interests. This includes economic, military, and foreign policy interests. We do not agree with the implications from the House Judiciary Committee hearing of 7 May 1992 and recent news articles that allege that U.S. export laws prevent U.S. firms’ manufacture and use of top encryption equipment. We are unaware of any case where a U.S. firm has been prevented from manufacturing and using encryption equipment within this country or for use by the U.S. firm or its subsidiaries in locations outside the U.S. because of U.S. export restrictions. In fact, NSA has always supported the use of encryption by U.S. businesses operating domestically and overseas to protect sensitive information. For export to foreign countries, NSA as a component of the Department of Defense (along with the Department of State and the Department of Commerce) reviews export licenses for information security technologies controlled by the Export Administration Regulations or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Similar export control systems are in effect in all the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) countries as well as many non-CoCom countries as these technologies are universally considered as sensitive. Such technologies are not banned from export and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. As part of the export review process, licenses may be required for these systems and are reviewed to determine the effect such export could have on national security interests—including economic, military, and political security interests. Export licenses are approved or denied based upon the type of equipment involved, the proposed end use and the end user. Our analysis indicates that the U.S. leads the world in the manufacture and export of information security technologies. Of those cryptologic products referred to NSA by the Department of State for export licenses, we consistently approve over 90%. Export licenses for information security products under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce are processed and approved without referral to NSA or DoD. This includes products using such techniques as the DSS and RSA which provide authentication and access control to computers or networks. In fact, in the past NSA has played a major role in successfully advocating the relaxation of export controls on RSA and related technologies for authentication purposes. Such techniques are extremely valuable against the hacker problem and unauthorized use of resources. It is the stated policy of the NSA not to restrict the export of authentication products, only encryption products. If you want to export an authentication-only product, approval may merely be a matter of showing that your product cannot easily be used for encryption. Furthermore, the bureaucratic procedures are much simpler for authentication products than for encryption products. An authentication product needs State Department approval only once for a CJ; an encryption product may require approval for every product revision or even every sale. Without a CJ, you must request export approval every time you wish to export the product. The State Department does not approve the export of products with strong encryption, even those using DES. Isolated exceptions include export to U.S. subsidiaries for the purposes of communicating to the U.S., exports for some banking applications, and export to appropriate U.S. military users. The Software Publishers Association (SPA) has been negotiating with the government to ease export license restrictions. A 1992 agreement between them and the State Department eased the export license rules for two algorithms, RC2 and RC4, as long as the key size is 40 bits or less. Refer to Section 7.1 for more information. In 1993, Rep. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced a bill at the behest of the software industry to relax export controls on encryption software. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. The Cantwell Bill was appended to the general export control legislation going through Congress, but was deleted by the House Intelligence Committee after a massive lobbying effort by the NSA. Whatever the NSA did, it was impressive; the committee voted unanimously to delete the wording. I can’t remember the last time a bunch of legislators voted unanimously to do anything. In 1995 Dan Bernstein, with the help of the EFF, sued the U.S. government, seeking to bar the government from restricting publication of cryptographic documents and software [143]. The suit claimed that the export control laws are unconstitutional, an “impermissible prior restraint on speech, in violation of the First Amendment.” Specifically, the lawsuit charges that the current export control process: — Allows bureaucrats to restrict publication without ever going to court. — Provides too few procedural safeguards for First Amendment rights. — Requires publishers to register with the government, creating in effect a “licensed press.” — Disallows general publication by requiring recipients to be individually identified. — Is sufficiently vague that ordinary people cannot know what conduct is allowed and what conduct is prohibited. — Is overbroad because it prohibits conduct that is clearly protected (such as speaking to foreigners within the United States). — Is applied too broadly, by prohibiting export of software that contains no cryptography, on the theory that cryptography could be added to it later. — Egregiously violates the First Amendment by prohibiting private speech on cryptography because the government wishes its own opinions on cryptography to guide the public instead. — Exceeds the authority granted by Congress in the export control laws in many ways, as well as exceeding the authority granted by the Constitution.
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