William Tauzin: “I rise today to explore the issues presented by H.R. 1903, the Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997, some of which…”

“I rise today to explore the issues presented by H.R. 1903, the Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997, some of which are within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce. The main purpose of H.R. 1903 appears to be to update the Computer Security Act of 1987 to improve computer security for Federal civilian agencies. This is a laudable goal. However, certain provisions of the bill before us today are not limited to issues within the purview of the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST], or to the improvement of computer security for Federal civilian agencies. Therefore, I must make note of the fact that the House Committee on Commerce maintains a strong jurisdictional interest in the telecommunications and commerce issues addressed in H.R. 1903. For example, the findings listed in section 2 of H.R. 1903 include language asserting that the development and use of encryption should not be driven by Government requirements, and that export policy should be determined in light of the public availability of comparable encryption products outside the United States.”