One of the casualties of this fall’s terrorist attacks upon the United States may have been the latest effort to reform controls limiting exports of technologies (ex. encryption or missile guidance) that could provide a military advantage to the nation’s potential enemies.
The Clinton Administration wants to relax encryption export controls and harmonize privacy standards for electronic communications. In a speech at the National Press Club on Monday, White House Chief of Staff John Podesta announced proposed legislation being sent to Congress that would relax existing export controls on encryption technology.
The author evaluates the effects the government's new encryption regulations are having on the spread of strong cryptography worldwide.