6.805 | Fall 2005 | Undergraduate

Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier

Readings

Sampling from the Crypto Debate -- 1997

The pieces here will give you a flavor of the statements on both sides of the crypto debate during 1997.

  • Gillmor, Dan. “Encryption poses classic Gordian knot.” San Jose Mercury News, January 27, 1997.
  • Rivest, Ron. “Letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.” June 10, 1997.
  • USACM and IEEE. “Letter to Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee.” July 3, 1997.
  • Freeh, Louis, FBI Director. “Statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee (PDF).” July 9, 1997.
  • Dam, Kenneth, Chair of the NRC Study. “Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.” 9 July 1997.
  • Gephardt, Richard, House Majority Leader. “Encryption is vital to the Net (PDF).” August 20, 1997.
  • Pressman, Aaron. “Senators call for mandatory US encryption controls.” Reuter, September 3, 1997.
  • Chandrasekaran, Rajiv. “Freeh Seeks Encryption Decoding Key.” Washington Post, September 4, 1997.
  • Pressman, Aaron. “Clinton Administration Backs Away From FBI on Encryption.” Reuter, September 4, 1997.
  • Markoff, John. “Law proposed to regulate encoding devices.” New York Times, September 6, 1997.
  • “Law Professors’ Letter Opposing Mandatory Key Escrow.” Letter to House Commerce Committee, September 23, 1997.
  • Ashcroft, John, Senator. “Open letter to the Internet community.” October 1, 1997.
  • Andrews, Edmund L. “Europeans Reject U.S. Plan on Electronic Cryptography.” New York Times, October 9, 1997.
  • Lott, Trent, U.S. Senate Majority Leader. “Statement before the Senate (PDF) on the encryption debate.” October 21, 1997.