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	  ELECTRONIC FRONTIER CANADA (EFC) --- PRESS RELEASE
				 
(For immediate release --- April 20, 1998)


CANADA'S LEADING CRYPTOGRAPHERS OPPOSE CRYPTOGRAPHY REGULATION


Fourteen of Canada's leading cryptographers -- experts in the coding
and decoding of messages -- have signed letters opposing government
regulation of cryptography.  The letters were delivered to the
Task Force on Electronic Commerce today at a roundtable meeting
on cryptography hosted by Industry Canada.

The letters were written in response to a February 1998 Industry
Canada report entitled "A Cryptography Policy Framework for
Electronic Commerce", which listed possible scenarios for
government regulation of cryptographic hardware and software.
Dr. David Jones, president of Electronic Frontier Canada, a non-profit
civil liberties group, delivered the letters this morning in Ottawa.

"Cryptography is essential for the transition to a wired society,"
said Jones.  "It is the key enabling technology that will allow
Canadians to keep our personal information and communications private
without fear of eavesdropping, as well as safeguard the security of
our online transactions, without fear of fraud.  If the government
places restrictions on the use of cryptography, it would likely do
more harm than good."

The Industry Canada report suggests that, in deference to
law enforcement and national security concerns, one policy option
might be to ban cryptographic products that do not allow the
government to listen in.

But Canada's leading cryptographers claim such a ban would be
infeasible.  Dr. Charles Rackoff, professor of computer science 
at the University of Toronto and author of several fundamental
papers on cryptography, stated that prohibition of such products
"would be unenforceable in practice, since the basic mathematical
methods are published and well known and can be easily
implemented in software by any bright high-school student."

Indeed, three of the signers, Dr. Scott Vanstone and Dr. Alfred J.
Menezes of the University of Waterloo, and Dr. Paul C. van Oorschot
of Entrust Technologies, have written and published a book
entitled _Handbook of Applied Cryptography_ (CRC Press, 1997)
that describes the mathematics of encryption in great detail.

Canada's cryptographers also expressed concern that export controls
on cryptographic products would adversely affect the fledgling
Canadian cryptography industry.  Additional restriction would
"severely handicap Canadian products and technology as they
compete in the global market for information security products,"
said Dr. Menezes.

Dr. Jeffrey Shallit, Vice-President of Electronic Frontier
Canada agreed:   "Cryptographic software and hardware has the
potential to be a billion-dollar industry.  If Canada is to
take part, it must ease its export restrictions, not strengthen
them."

Electronic Frontier Canada is a non-profit educational organization 
devoted to ensuring the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms are preserved as new computing and
communications technologies emerge.    

The list of signers of the the letters follows.  AFFILIATIONS ARE FOR
IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES ONLY.   Signers do not speak for the institutions
that employ them, and the opinions of the signers do not necessarily
reflect those of the employing institution.

===

Scott Vanstone, Ph. D., University of Waterloo (co-author, Handbook of
Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, 1997)

Charles Rackoff, Ph. D., University of Toronto

Carlisle M. Adams, Ph. D., Entrust Technologies

Sharon Boeyen, Senior Consultant, Advanced Security Technology Group,
Entrust Technologies

Helmut Jurgensen, Ph. D., University of Western Ontario

Alfred Menezes, Ph. D., University of Waterloo (co-author, Handbook of
Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, 1997)

Robert J. Zuccherato, Ph. D., Entrust Technologies

Paul C. van Oorschot, Ph. D., Entrust Technologies (co-author, Handbook
of Applied Cryptography, CRC Press, 1997)

Michael J. Wiener, Ph. D., Senior Cryptologist, Entrust Technologies

Howard Heys, Ph. D., Memorial University of Newfoundland

Hugh C. Williams, Ph. D., University of Manitoba

Gordon Agnew, Ph. D., University of Waterloo

Ian Goldberg, Researcher, Internet Security, Authentication, Applications, and
Cryptography Research Group, University of California, Berkeley

Rob Lambert, Certicom Corporation


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EFC Contact Information:
 
 
Electronic Frontier Canada
 
 Dr. David Jones        phone: (905) 525-9140 x24689    fax: (905) 546-9995
        email: djones@efc.ca

	[Dr. Jones will be in Ottawa on Monday, April 20, and hence
	unavailable for comment.]
 
 Dr. Jeff Shallit       phone: (519) 888-4804           fax: (519) 885-1208
        email: shallit@efc.ca

 Dr. Richard Rosenberg  phone: (604) 822-4142           fax: (604) 822-5485
	 email: rosen@efc.ca

 
 
Electronic Frontier Canada, online archives:
 
 URL:   http://www.efc.ca/

EFC Fax:  (519) 745-0941  (if busy, call (519) 743-8754)