MIT 6.805/STS085: Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier
in coordination with
Harvard Law School: Internet and Society
Fall Semester, 1999
Week 4, Sept. 27 - Oct. 1:
The Encryption Controversy
Overview
No issue has generated more controversy on the Internet than the
question of government regulation of encryption. Without encryption,
all network transactions are essentially public. Email has the
approximate privacy of a postcard. Passwords, credit card numbers,
and personal information transmitted in the clear over the network may
as well be published in the newspaper. If the Internet is to be a
suitable vehicle for communications and commerce, then much of the
information that flows on it must be encrypted.
The quandary is that modern cryptographic techniques are good -- very,
very good. A small amount of computing power suffices to implement
codes that are virtually unbreakable, whether by an eavesdropping
neighbor, an organized crime syndicate, the FBI, or (for all anyone
knows) the intelligence agencies of the world's most powerful
governments. Indeed, until recently, encryption hardware and software
was classified by U.S. law as a munition; someone who sent
encryption software out of the country was (from the viewpoint of
U.S. law) acting as an arms dealer. These regulations were changed in
December, 1996, but U.S. law still restricts the export of
cryptographic hardware and software.
Readings for Tuesday (be prepared to discuss these in class):
- Gregory Rawlins,
Too Many Secrets which is a chapter
from Rawlins's book Moths to the
Flame, MIT Press, 1997. This
is an outstanding introduction to cryptography and to some of the
controversies surrounding it, written for a nontechnical
audience.
Tuesday class, Sep. 28: Technology background on cryptography
- Slides from Tuesday class are available here.
Readings for Thursday (be prepared to discuss these in class):
- Read the section of the archive on The
Encryption Controversy, 1994-1997,
including the three sub-pages: 1994: The Digital Telephony Act (CALEA),
1994: Clipper (The Escrowed Encryption Standard),
1995-97: From Clipper to Key Recovery
. There are a lot
of links here that you can browse, but you need look only
at the ones that interest you.
- Read the new white paper, just released by the White House on
September 16, which sets out the
Administration's new view on law enforcement needs in cyberspace,
including a relaxation of export controls on encryption:
Preserving America's Privacy and Security in the Next Century:
A Strategy for America in Cyberspace, by
William Cohen,
Janet Reno,
Jacob J. Lew,
and William Daley.
Oral reports for Thursday:
Thursday class, Sept. 30: Cryptography policy issues. CALEA. From
Clipper to key recovery.
Writing assignment: Due October 5
-
A proposal and outline for your midterm paper. Look here for
information on the midterm paper.
Additional resources for this topic
The following pieces are not assigned, but you may find them useful
to browse though or to use as references if you plan to write a paper
on this topic.
Return to course calendar
Return to course home page
Hal Abelson (hal@mit.edu)
Mike Fischer (mfischer@mit.edu)
Danny Weitzner (djweitzner@w3.org)
Jonathan Zittrain (zittrain@law.harvard.edu)
Send comments about this site to 6805-webmaster@zurich.ai.mit.edu.
Last modified: October 1 1999, 12:14 AM