Doomed to Repeat History? Lessons from the Crypto Wars of the 1990s
Tags: 1990s Crypto Wars OTI
Authors: Kehl, Danielle and Wilson, Andi and Bankston, Kevin
Published: June 2015
Abstract: On June 17, 2015, the Open Technology Institute at New America published a report on the history of the debate between private companies, privacy advocates, and the United States government regarding “the right to use and distribute products that contain strong encryption technology.” Topics discussed include the history of encryption before this policy debate emerged in the 1990s, the fight over Clipper Chips and key escrow, the fight over encryption export controls, the “post-war” proof that privacy experts and technology companies were right “that strong encryption is good for security, liberty, and economic growth”, and the attempts by the government to reopen the debate. The goal of the report is to assert that there was previously “a robust public debate that resolved this dispute, and nothing has changed since the 1990s that would cast doubt on the policy conclusions we reathec then; indeed, the post-war period has only reinforced those conclusions”.