LONDON -- Online civil liberties advocates here are eyeing a sweeping new government e-commerce proposal with both caution and welcome surprise.
A Department of Trade and Industry consultation paper, released last week, aims to map out this country's path toward an information economy. Most notably, the document spells out Crown policy on encryption technologies that are vital to scrambling credit-card numbers and creating legally binding digital signatures.
The document, Building Confidence in Electronic Commerce, makes clear that the government will no longer seek to impose "key escrow." Under that hotly contested scheme, law enforcement agencies armed with a warrant would have immediate back-door access to scrambled private communications.
"This recognition at the highest level of government of difficulties with the key escrow policy is unprecedented," said Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.
The proposal stresses that the legislation will be technology-independent, that consumers will be free to use any computer products they choose, and that no new wiretapping powers will be created. The bill does, however, extend law enforcement's existing powers into new media.
Under the new plan, police will be given the power to access private encryption "keys" with a warrant. The document states that 2,600 interception warrants were issued by the Home Secretary in 1996 and 1997.
"That the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ... listened to the concerted and consistent message from business that encryption key escrow is not appropriate or practical is a great boost," said Roger Till, director of eCentre UK. The group represents businesses engaged in electronic commerce.
Privacy advocates praised the government's abandonment of key escrow, but expressed alarm at word of a secret meeting held with the UK's largest computer companies on the day before the paper's release.
In that meeting, privacy watchdog groups said, the government sought private sector help in developing ways to assist law enforcement with other electronic wiretapping technologies other than key escrow.
The debate over cryptography in this country first flared up in 1997. A set of proposals issued by the Conservative government in April of that year called for the creation of a network of so-called trusted third parties.
