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cpsr-statement.txt

From msuinfo!agate!ames!sgi!cdp!dsobel Sat Jul 24 10:42:30 1993
Path: msuinfo!agate!ames!sgi!cdp!dsobel
From: David L. Sobel <dsobel@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Date: 15 Jul 93 11:50 PDT
Subject: CPSR Statement on Crypto Secrecy
Message-ID: <1465900016@igc.apc.org>
Sender: Notesfile to Usenet Gateway <notes@igc.apc.org>
Lines: 74


Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) has
called for a complete overhaul in the federal government's
information classification system, including the removal of
cryptography from the categories of information automatically
deemed to be secret. In a letter to a special Presidential task
force examining the classification system, CPSR said that the
current system -- embodied in an Executive Order issued by
President Reagan in 1982 -- "has limited informed public debate on
technological issues and has restricted scientific innovation and
technological development."

The CPSR statement, which was submitted in response to a
task force request for public comments, strongly criticizes a
provision in the Reagan secrecy directive that presumptively
classifies any information that "concerns cryptology." CPSR notes
that "while cryptography -- the science of making and breaking
secret security codes -- was once the sole province of the
military and the intelligence agencies, the technology today plays
an essential role in assuring the security and privacy of a wide
range of communications affecting finance, education, research and
personal correspondence." With the end of the Cold War and the
growth of widely available computer network services, the outdated
view of cryptography reflected in the Reagan order must change,
according to the statement.

CPSR's call for revision of the classification system is
based upon the organization's experience in attempting to obtain
government information relating to cryptography and computer
security issues. CPSR is currently litigating Freedom of
Information Act lawsuits against the National Security Agency
(NSA) seeking the disclosure of technical data concerning the
digital signature standard (DSS) and the administration's recent
"Clipper Chip" proposal. NSA has relied on the Reagan Executive
Order as authority for withholding the information from the
public.

In its submission to the classification task force, CPSR
also called for the following changes to the current secrecy
directive:

* A return to the "balancing test," whereby the public
interest in the disclosure of information is weighed
against the claimed harm that might result from such
disclosure;

* A prohibition against the reclassification of
information that has been previously released;

* The requirement that the economic cost of classifying
scientific and technical be considered before such
information may be classified;

* The automatic declassification of information after
20 years, unless the head of the original classifying
agency, in the exercise of his or her non-delegable
authority, determines in writing that the material
requires continued classification for a specified
period of time; and

* The establishment of an independent oversight
commission to monitor the operation of the security
classification system.

The task force is scheduled to submit a draft revision of
the Executive Order to President Clinton on November 30.

The full text of the CPSR statement can be obtained via
ftp, wais and gopher from cpsr.org, under the filename
cpsr\crypto\secrecy_statement.txt.

CPSR is a national organization of professionals in the
computing field. Membership is open to the public. For more
information on CPSR, contact < cpsr @ cpsr.org >.

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