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The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

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Re: The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

#3

Post by oxalo »

Zikes wrote: post #2

After a quick read of that document, I get the distinct impression that the US government feels it has a fundamental right to control all encryption schemes and to have access to any and all encrypted data. Bollocks.

Yeah the phrase '...the US government's legal right to control encryption' disturbs me.

Re: The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

#4

Post by john_b »

Zikes wrote: post #2

After a quick read of that document, I get the distinct impression that the US government feels it has a fundamental right to control all encryption schemes and to have access to any and all encrypted data. Bollocks.

The 10th Amendment is largely a fiction today. Instead, the opposite is true: the federal government frequently claims and uses novel powers until a Supreme Court case says it can't. And sometimes those powers get minor modifications to enable their re-use afterwards.

The only fundamental force resisting these types of power grabs is a large body of citizens who both know and exercise their rights, and who look at government with suspicion instead of looking at it as a protector.

Re: The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

#6

Post by rayiner »

john_b wrote: post #4
Zikes wrote: post #2

After a quick read of that document, I get the distinct impression that the US government feels it has a fundamental right to control all encryption schemes and to have access to any and all encrypted data. Bollocks.

The 10th Amendment is largely a fiction today. Instead, the opposite is true: the federal government frequently claims and uses novel powers until a Supreme Court case says it can't. And sometimes those powers get minor modifications to enable their re-use afterwards. The only fundamental force resisting these types of power grabs is a large body of citizens who both know and exercise their rights, and who look at go…

The 10th amendment has no independent significance. It says:

> The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

If an exercise of power can be justified by reference to some Constitutional provision, then it is by definition delegated and the 10th amendment does not apply. If an exercise of power cannot be justified by reference to some Constitutional provision, then the 10th amendment is irrelevant because the federal government can't exercise a non-enumerated power anyway. In other words, there cannot be a situation where one provision of the Constitution says something is okay, but the 10th amendment says it isn't.

As far as "power grabs"--the government has always exercised plenary power over what comes into and out of the U.S. Establishing the Customs service was one of the very first things the First Congress did. Moreover, one of the founding purposes of the federal government was national security, and the federal government was always conceived of as having broad power in that area. Which is precisely why it's tautological.

Re: The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

#7

Post by bthornbury »

kuhhk wrote: post #5

When was this published? I see the approval for release date, but not the author's publish date.

I don't see a date either, however given some of the dates in the document, it seems sometime between 1997 and 2000.

Relevant lines:

"Representatives from the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD) backed the concept of key recovery systems during a January 1997 conference."

"The software industry estimated that, if export controls were removed, US companies could sell as much as $60 billion a year in encryption hardware and software by 2000."

Re: The Evolution of US Restrictions on Using and Exporting Encryption (1997) [pdf]

#8

Post by higherpurpose »

john_b wrote: post #4
Zikes wrote: post #2

After a quick read of that document, I get the distinct impression that the US government feels it has a fundamental right to control all encryption schemes and to have access to any and all encrypted data. Bollocks.

The 10th Amendment is largely a fiction today. Instead, the opposite is true: the federal government frequently claims and uses novel powers until a Supreme Court case says it can't. And sometimes those powers get minor modifications to enable their re-use afterwards. The only fundamental force resisting these types of power grabs is a large body of citizens who both know and exercise their rights, and who look at go…

This is why it's a shame the US doesn't have a Constitutional Court with its sole purpose of filtering out unconstitutional bills signed by the president before they become actual laws.

Then bills like the Patriot Act in its current form would have a much smaller chance of becoming laws, and then having the government abuse them for two decades before they are challenged at the Supreme Court.

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