Trent Lott: “I think it is worth repeating to my colleagues that the Administration's approach to encryption makes no sense. It is…”

“I think it is worth repeating to my colleagues that the Administration's approach to encryption makes no sense. It is not good policy. Continuing to restrict the foreign sale of American encryption technology that is already available abroad, or will soon be available, is anti-business, anti-consumer, anti-jobs, and anti-innovation. The time for a change in America's export regime is long overdue. Unfortunately, the Administration continues to support its outmoded and competition-adverse encryption control policy. That is why this Congress needs to find a legislative solution to this issue. If America's export controls are not relaxed now, then Congress places in peril our entire technology industry. Not just those companies that create and market encryption products and services, but virtually every company involved in the development and sale of computer hardware and software. Congress cannot and will not put America's entire technological base at risk for an ineffective and outmoded export policy on encryption.”