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White House Reviewing Sun Crypto Deal
by Dan Brekke |
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 E-mail it11:59 a.m. May 22, 1997 PDT The Clinton administration says it is reviewing a deal announced earlier this week by Sun Microsystems to market overseas a strong encryption product developed by a Russian software firm. The deal, involving software including currently unbreakable 128-bit encryption algorithms, has been widely seen as a challenge to the administration's policy of tightly controlling crypto exports. Current rules limit overseas sales to software using 40-bit algorithms, though a growing number of firms have won conditional approval to export 56-bit products. "We are reviewing our regulatory posture with Sun to make sure their arrangement with the Russian encryption company is in compliance with US export controls," said an administration statement released through the Commerce Department. The statement said the government has not analyzed the product, Sunscreen PC SKIP E+, made by Elvis+ Co. just outside Moscow. The software allows secure communications between Windows machines. It includes no provision for key recovery - a step that allows third parties to access coded data. The administration reiterated its stand that key recovery "is an essential element of encryption as it relates to electronic commerce and secure public networks." In a related development, Sybase, the Emeryville, California-based maker of high-end network-transaction and database-server software, became the latest to announce it has won Commerce Department permission to export products using strong encryption. The company said Wednesday that the permit allows overseas sale of 56-bit encrypted products with no key recovery for communications and voluntary key recovery for stored data. No third party would be involved in the key system. The Sybase permit comes as US firms clamor for the government to drop its tight control of crypto export. Other companies that have announced conditional export approval for products stronger than specified in government rules include Netscape, V-One, and Open Market.
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