Political Quotes

“this is the third Congress in which I have introduced and sponsored legislation to update our country's encryption policies. My objective has been to bolster the competitive edge of our Nation's high-tech companies, allow Americans to protect their online and electronically stored confidential information, trade secrets and intellectual property, and promote global electronic commerce. I am pleased to join Senators McCain, Wyden and Burns, in this continuing effort with the ``Promote Reliable On-Line Transactions to Encourage Commerce and Trade (PROTECT) Act of 1999.'' In May 1996, I chaired a hearing on the Administration's ill-fated Clipper Chip key escrow encryption program that drove home the need for relaxed export controls on strong encryption. U.S. export controls on encryption technology were having a clear negative effect on the competitiveness of American hi-tech companies. Moreover, these controls were discouraging the use of strong encryption domestically since manufacturers generally made and marketed one product for both for export and for domestic use here. At that hearing I heard testimony about 340 foreign encryption products that were available worldwide-- including for import into the United States--155 of which employed encryption in a strength that American companies were prohibited from exporting. That number has grown exponentially.”