S. 909

Title.  Secured Public Networks Act.

Sponsors.  John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Kerry (D-NE), Fritz Holllings (D-SC)

Summary.  S 909 IS would require use of government approved "third party" agents to hold a spare copy of every encryption "key".  This bill is the focus of attention for supporters of encryption restrictions. Opponents argue that these so-called "key recovery" or "key escrow" systems would increase costs and limit privacy.  (See also Library of Congress Summary.)

Status.  This bill has stalled in the Senate.

Legislative History.

• Introduced 6/16/97, and referred to Senate Commerce Commerce.
• 6/19/97 passed Senate Commerce Committee with amendment.

Other Resources.

• Several groups which support strong encryption have websites which contain considerable materials pertaining to the history of encryption legislation proposals.  See for example, Americans for Computer Privacy, Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• Sen. Conrad Burns' Crypto Policy Webpage.
• Related bills: HR 695 (SAFE), S 377 (Pro CODE), and S 2067 (E-PRIVACY).