House Democrats pleaded with President Clinton to help overturn the policy that restricts the export of strong encryption products on Tuesday, claiming the continued health of the country's high-tech industry is at stake.
"We are writing to you on behalf of the members of the House Democratic Caucus who support HR 850," read a letter signed by House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt and two California representatives, Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo.
Also known as the Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act, HR 850 would allow the free export of technology that uses strong encryption of data.
Current policy limits the export of strong encryption products from the United States.
"This is an issue of great importance to continued US leadership of a vital segment of our economy, the high-tech industry," the letter added.
"As we look toward possible House floor consideration of HR 850 this fall and ever growing support for passage of the bill in the 106th Congress, we believe that it is time to seek your leadership and involvement on this issue," Gephardt and the others wrote.
They also requested a meeting with Clinton within a week.
The rationale for the limits imposed by the Commerce Department on strong encryption products, such as those that make email messages more secure, is that it might be used by hostile nations or terrorists to hide their communications from US intelligence agencies.
The computer industry, seeking an open world market for its encryption products, has long countered that the restrictions are pointless because terrorists can simply buy powerful crypto from another country, such as Canada, Israel, or Ireland. More importantly, the companies argue that the rules have given overseas security companies an unfair market advantage.
The strong encryption issue is also critical to conservative and civil liberties groups, which point to the privacy-protecting benefits of encryption.
The SAFE Act is only one of several crypto-liberalization bills wending its way through Congress. But previous efforts to pass similar legislation were killed after intense lobbying by the Justice Department and the NSA.
It would be something of a coup if Gephardt and others were to win support from the president on the issue. The administration took two-and-a-half years to implement even the most conservative suggestion from the last set of similar recommendations, made by the National Research Council.
