The Honorable John McCain
Chairman, Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On June 19th, the Commerce Committee has scheduled a markup of S. 909, the "Secure Public Networks Act." The Committee also has before it S. 377, the "Promotion of Commerce On-Line in the Digital Era Act of 1997." This letter provides the views of the Administration on these two bills dealing with the management of encryption technology.
The Clinton Administration's encryption policy is designed to promote the
growth of secure
international electronic commerce, preserve individual privacy, support the
ability of U.S.
companies to compete in global markets, and protect the public safety and
national security. Our approach balances these objectives by endorsing a market-driven
technology approach--key recovery and by encouraging the development of the
key management infrastructures needed to make electronic commerce a reality.
The Administration welcomes the recent introduction of S. 909. While we have
not yet
completed a detailed analysis of all the bill's provisions, we believe it
provides a sound basis from which to develop legislation that is acceptable
to both the Congress and the Administration. In particular, we appreciate
the bill's explicit recognition of the need to balance competing objectives
and of the potential for key recovery to become a market-driven mechanism
to achieve that balance. Accordingly, we urge the Committee to report S. 909,
and look forward to continued discussions with you and your Senate colleagues
to address potential concerns.
The approach taken in S. 377 is more narrowly focused. It does not provide a means to support key management infrastructures that also support key recovery. Further, by weakening our ability to manage the proliferation of strong encryption without key recovery worldwide, S. 377 would hamper our efforts to develop a multilateral approach. It does not appropriately take into account or balance the competing objectives described above. Accordingly, the Administration strongly opposes S. 377.
We look forward to working with the Congress to reach agreement on a satisfactory solution to this important problem.
Sincerely,
/s/
William M. Daley