Association for Computing Machinery

                           PRESS RELEASE
         __________________________________________________

Thursday, June 30, 1994

Contact:

Joseph DeBlasi, ACM Executive Director (212) 869-7440 
Dr. Stephen Kent, Panel Chair (617) 873-3988 
Dr. Susan Landau, Panel Staff (413) 545-0263


    COMPUTING SOCIETY RELEASES REPORT ON ENCRYPTION POLICY

      "CLIPPER CHIP" CONTROVERSY EXPLORED BY EXPERT PANEL

     WASHINGTON, DC ! A panel of experts convened by the nation's
foremost computing society today released a comprehensive report on
U.S. cryptography policy.  The report, "Codes, Keys and Conflicts:
Issues in U.S Crypto Policy," is the culmination of a ten-month review
conducted by the panel of representatives of the computer industry and
academia, government officials, and attorneys.  The 50-page document
explores the complex technical and social issues underlying the
current debate over the Clipper Chip and the export control of
information security technology.

     "With the development of the information superhighway, 
cryptography has become a hotly debated policy issue," according 
to Joseph DeBlasi, Executive Director of the Association for 
Computing Machinery (ACM), which convened the expert panel.  "The 
ACM believes that this report is a significant contribution to the 
ongoing debate on the Clipper Chip and encryption policy.  It cuts 
through the rhetoric and lays out the facts."

     Dr. Stephen Kent, Chief Scientist for Security Technology 
with the firm of Bolt  Beranek and Newman, said that he was 
pleased with the final report.  "It provides a very balanced 
discussion of many of the issues that surround the debate on 
crypto policy, and we hope that it will serve as a foundation for 
further public debate on this topic."  

     The ACM report addresses the competing interests of the 
various stakeholders  in  the  encryption debate  --  law 
enforcement agencies,  the intelligence community, industry and 
users of communications services.  It reviews the recent history 
of U.S. cryptography policy and identifies key questions that 
policymakers must resolve as they grapple with this controversial 
issue.

     The ACM cryptography panel was chaired by Dr. Stephen Kent.  
Dr. Susan Landau, Research Associate Professor in Computer Science 
at the University of Massachusetts, co-ordinated the work of the 
panel and did most of the writing. Other panel members were Dr. 
Clinton Brooks, Advisor to the Director, National Security Agency; 
Scott Charney, Chief of the Computer Crime Unit, Criminal 
Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Dr. Dorothy Denning, 
Computer Science Chair, Georgetown University; Dr. Whitfield 
Diffie, Distinguished Engineer, Sun Microsystems; Dr. Anthony 
Lauck, Corporate Consulting Engineer, Digital Equipment 
Corporation; Douglas Miller, Government Affairs Manager, Software 
Publishers Association; Dr. Peter Neumann, Principal Scientist, 
SRI International; and David Sobel, Legal Counsel, Electronic 
Privacy Information Center.  Funding for the cryptography study 
was provided in part by the National Science Foundation. 

     The ACM, founded in 1947, is a 85,000 member non-profit 
educational and scientific society dedicated to the development 
and use of information technology, and to addressing the impact of 
that technology on the world's major social challenges.  For 
general information, contact ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY  
10036. (212) 869-7440 (tel), (212) 869-0481 (fax).

    An electronic copy of the report in postscript and TEX is available
via ftp/gopher from acm.org /reports.  HTTP and ASCII versions will
be available shortly.