By
Stewart Baker
(
[email protected])
Michael Hintze
(
[email protected])
October 1997
We have received a copy of the policy paper on encryption and digital signatures adopted this week by the European Commission. Entitled "Ensuring Security and Trust in Electronic Communication: Toward A European Framework for Digital Signatures and Encryption," the paper takes a viewpoint on encryption that is in sharp contrast to that of the United States and some EU members such as France and the U.K.
e paper goes on at great length about the benefits of encryption - e.g. it enables electronic commerce by providing security over open networks, it protects the confidentiality of private communications, it protects the privacy of personal data and therefore can further the goals of the EU Data Privacy Directive, and it contributes the growth of many European technology companies which, in turn, creates jobs.
