[FYI] (Fwd) Reuters on Wassenaar

["Axel H. Horns" <axel.horns@fitug.de>]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 03 Dec 1998 13:14:02 -0500
From:          Barry Steinhardt <Barrys@eff.org>
Subject:       Reuters on Wassenaar
To:            Marc Rotenberg <gilc-plan@gilc.org>
Reply-to:      gilc-plan@gilc.org

U.S. claims victory on global encryption exports
    WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Clinton administration officials on
Thursday said they had convinced other leading countries to impose
strict new export controls on computer data scrambling products under
the guise of arms control.
   At a meeting on Thursday in Vienna, the 33 countries that have
   signed
the Wassenaar Arrangement limiting arms exports -- including Japan,
Germany and Britain -- agreed to impose controls on the most powerful
data scrambling technologies, including for the first time mass market
software, U.S. special envoy for cryptography David Aaron told
Reuters.
   The United States, which restricts exports of a wide range of data
scrambling products, has long sought without success to convince other
countries to impose similar restrictions.
   Leading U.S. high-technology companies, including Microsoft
Corp.<MSFT.O> and Intel Corp.<INTC.O>, have complained that the lack
of restrictions in other countries hampered their ability to compete
abroad. The industry has sought to have U.S. restrictions relaxed or
repealed, but not asked for tighter controls in other countries.
   Aaron said the Wassenaar countries agreed to continue export
   controls on
powerful scrambling, or encryption, products in general but ended an
exemption for widely available software containing encryption.
   The new policy also reduced reporting and paperwork requirements
   and
specifically excluded from export controls products that used
encryption to protect intellectual property, like movies or recordings
sent over the Internet, from illegal copying, Aaron said. ((Aaron
Pressman, Washington newsroom, 202-898-8312)) Thursday, 3 December
1998 12:57:40 RTRS [nN0389576]