http://www.msnbc.com/news/220434.asp
U.S. gets its way on crypto controls Envoy says other countries accept plan to limit exports
By Aaron Pressman REUTERS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 _ Clinton administration officials say they have persuaded other leading countries to impose strict new export controls on computer data-scrambling products under the terms of an arms control agreement.
AT A MEETING Thursday in Vienna, the 33 nations that 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, said David Aaron, U.S. special envoy for cryptography.
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Leading American high-technology companies, including Microsoft and Intel, have complained that the lack of restrictions in other countries hampered their ability to compete abroad. Such companies have sought to have U.S. restrictions relaxed or repealed, but they have not asked for tighter controls in other countries.
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Aaron said the Wassenaar countries agreed to continue export controls on powerful encryption products in general _ and also decided to end an exemption for widely available software containing such capabilities. "They plugged a loophole," Aaron said. The new policy also reduced reporting and paperwork requirements and specifically excluded from export controls products that used encryption to protect intellectual property _ such as movies or recordings sent over the Internet _ from illegal copying, Aaron said.
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Under Thursday's agreement, Wassenaar countries would restrict exports of general encryption products using more than 56-bit keys and mass-market products with keys more than 64 bits long, Aaron said.
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