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April 6, 1999

 Capital
By JERI CLAUSING Bio

Former Allies May Back Different Encryption Bills

Competing Encryption Bills; Net Policy Hot in Virgina; ICANN Deadline Looms; Washington Privacy Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Privacy advocates and the information technology industry have historically been allies in the fight against laws controlling the export of data scrambling technology. But this year, they may find themselves lining up behind different bills that aim to overturn that controversial policy.


McCain Ends Opposition to Encryption Software Exports
(April 2, 1999)
While software and computer groups prefer a House bill that would eliminate all export controls on strong encryption technology, David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center says his group may prefer a Senate bill being drafted by Senator John McCain.

The preference stems from concern over a provision in the House Safety and Freedom Through Strong Encryption, or SAFE, Act, that would make it a felony to use encryption in the commission of a crime.

"I think a lot of people are saying [the McCain bill] is not nearly as good as SAFE," Sobel said last week. "But it depends on what your perspective is as to what's important. From a civil liberties perspective, it's a major improvement over SAFE."

Sobel said the criminal provision of SAFE "creates a dangerous precedent. It would be the first time the criminal code has ever recognized the use of encryption as a federal crime. We feel that opens the door to more domestic controls, saying the use of this technology is a suspect activity. We just don't think that's something that should be incorporated into the criminal code."

Sobel compared the provision to "making it a crime to wear gloves because they can be used to prevent fingerprints."

Virginia Takes the Lead on Internet Policy

While lawmakers in Washington keep getting bogged down in debate over whether or not to regulate the Internet, Virginia has quietly –- and quickly -- enacted the first comprehensive set of state policies on Internet issues.

Among the seven bills signed into law last Tuesday by Governor Jim Gilmore are provisions that make the misuse of junk e-mail a crime, extend the state's Privacy Protection Act to the Internet and enhance penalties for the use of encryption in committing crimes. Another bill will allow information sought under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act to be posted on the Internet or sent via electronic mail.

The package also formally establishes the job of Secretary of Technology, a post Gilmore filled last year and one that was key in the development of the legislation.

Gilmore's deputy press secretary, Lila Young, said the bills were largely drafted by the Technology Secretary, Don Upson. Last May, Upson, was named the nation's first state cabinet-level technology officer.

Gilmore, whose state is home to such technology giants as America Online, has promoted Virginia as the Internet capital of the country. So it was ironic that he chose the nation's capital instead of his own for a ceremony to sign the new policies into law.

Although it is unusual for a governor to sign state legislation out-of-state, Young said the governor's office wanted to hold the ceremony in conjunction with an event honoring Gilmore with the State Technology Policy Award, which was presented by the Electronic Industries Alliance.

In addition to taking the lead on state Internet policy, Gilmore is expected to be named chairman of the federal Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce. The panel was created last year by Congress as part of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which established a three-year moratorium on new Internet sales and access taxes. The panel will study whether and how to implement a national taxing structure for Internet sales.

Despite a lawsuit charging that the panel is illegally tipped in favor of industry over state and local government taxing entities, Gilmore has scheduled the panel's first meeting to take place -- fittingly -- in Williamsburg, Va., June 21 - 22.

New ICANN Deadline Looms

Companies wanting to be the first to compete with Network Solutions Inc. in their lucrative business of registering top-level domain names have until Thursday to submit applications to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

The deadline, originally set for March 29, was extended at the last minute. Esther Dyson, interim chair of ICANN, denied speculation that a lack of credible applicants played any role in the extension. She declined, however, to say how many applications had been received.

She said the cutoff was moved ahead because there were too many uncertainties remaining in how the initial, test phase of competition would be run. Network Solutions is still negotiating with the Department of Commerce on a final agreement for opening its registrar service to other companies.

"There was a sense that we were rushing people too much," she said. "There were too many uncertainties with NSI. Not all of them have been resolved. We're hoping some more of them will be resolved very soon."

Among the uncertainties remaining are how much the first five test applicants will have to pay Network Solutions for services involving the registration of domain addresses.

The Department of Commerce had hoped to get all the issues resolved last week but didn't, despite daily talks.

Dyson said no more extensions will be granted, regardless of what happens with Commerce and NSI.

"We are going to go ahead," she said. "We really want this thing to go forward."

ICANN staff is expected to select five companies by April 21 to begin competing with Network Solutions. The corporation, selected by Commerce last year to oversee the Administration of the Internet, hopes to open the registry to unlimited competition by summer.

Privacy Conference Occupies Slow Week in Washington

With Congress still on a two-week Easter break, the big show in town this week for technology policy makers, journalists and lobbyists is the ninth annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference.

"There's no question that there are zillions of high-level industry meetings," said Marc Rotenberg, one of the original organizers of the conference, which is hosted by the Association for Computing Machines. "But this is the one conference that really focuses on emerging policy issues. "

With participants from governments, business, education and nonprofit groups from around the world, the theme this year is the Global Internet, Rotenberg said. Panelists will discuss censorship, privacy, access and encryption policy issues that are emerging as international concerns.

"There is a proposal in Australia to mandate filtering. There are access issues in China. There are efforts underway in the UK to control encryption. Even the battle in Kosovo has implications," said Rotenberg, who in addition to his work with ACM is executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "All of these panels have people who are engaged in these issues."

On privacy, Rotenberg said, a group of officials from Canada, the United States, Europe and Hong Kong will be on hand to answer questions from a panel of jurors made up of privacy advocates.

Keynote speakers include Vinton G. Cerf, a founding father of the Internet; Mozelle Thompson, the Federal Trade Commissioner; Congressman Edward Markey; Henrikas Yushkiavitshus, associate director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium.

The CAPITAL DISPATCH column is published weekly, on Tuesdays. Click here for a list of links to other columns in the series.

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Jeri Clausing at jeri@nytimes.com welcomes your comments and suggestions.

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