GAO Report on Communications Privacy

Tags: 1990s Crypto Wars Crypto Wars I National Security

Authors: U.S. General Accounting Office

Published: November 1993

URL: https://epic.org/crypto/reports/gao_comm_privacy.html

Abstract: In November 1993, the GAO produced a report, at the request of Jack Brooks, the then Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, exploring the impact of federal policies on U.S. corporations’ ability to protect themselves against economic espionage. The Report focused on a few key issues: the need for information privacy in computer communications system through encryption; federal agency authority to develop cryptographic standards for the protection of sensitive, unclassified information; the roles, actions and policies of NSA and the Department of State related to export controls for products with encryption capabilities and industry rationale for requesting liberalization of controls; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) legislative proposal regarding telephone systems that use digital communications technology. The Report concluded that increased usage of computer and communication networks, and ever-increasing dependence on IT, heightened U.S. industry’s risk of losing “proprietary information” to economic espionage. Further, the Report found federal policies to be a direct hinderance on industry risk reduction efforts, by negatively impacting the use, export and development of commercial encryption technology.