By Stewart Baker (
[email protected])
Japanese policy toward encryption continues to develop along several not-entirely-parallel tracks.
Industrial Policy. MITI's interest in cryptography as a building block of industrial policy continues to be strong. MITI's information-technology Promotion Agency has established a new security center to deal specifically with encryption issues. And MITI is encouraging algorithm research, including university research on elliptic curve encryption. Most of the $300 million set aside by the Japanese government for encryption and electronic commerce research has been spent or obligated. Future levels of funding are not known.
Export Controls. In the area of export controls, however, there has been a tightening during the last year. Japanese export controls distinguish between highly sensitive exports (those with mainly military uses) and sensitive exports that could have military uses but may also have non-military uses. Sensitive
