EFA MEDIA RELEASE - OECD CRYPTOGRAPHY GROUP URGED TO READ WALSH REPORT

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Media Release
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.

                    Media Release                  July 6th 1997

OECD CRYPTOGRAPHY GROUP URGED TO READ WALSH REPORT

A quasi-OECD group is meeting this week in Sydney (8 July) and Canberra
(9 to 11 July) to discuss Cryptography Policy.  Electronic Frontiers
Australia (EFA) is urging all delegates to the meeting to read the
recently obtained Walsh Report.

EFA obtained most of the Walsh Report ("Review of Policy Relating to
Encryption Technologies") through a Freedom of Information request, and
has made it available at:

    http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/Walsh/

The Report balances defense and law-enforcement interests against 
those of privacy and commerce, but states clearly:

	"It is a flawed approach to assume a small or episodic interest
	of the state should necessarily predominate over the privacy
	interests of the individual."

It is also clear that the Report was intended to be public:

	"It would be sensible now to generate a more informed and broader
	discussion of the situation in the Australian community. Those
	consulted almost universally presumed the outcome of this Review
	would be used as a trigger in that process."

EFA Board member Michael Baker comments: "The main message of the Walsh
report is that we face a stark choice: either spies and law enforcement
officers are given easy access to all encrypted communications or
encryption technology can be used to secure electronic commerce and
individual privacy, but we can not have both.  Given that this choice
will have wide ranging implications for our future it is time that a
public debate was held on this subject, instead of policy being decided
behind closed doors."

The Walsh Report has attracted interest from around the world, notably
from members of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign.

ENDS

      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc  --  http://www.efa.org.au/
      representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms
      --------------------------------------------------------------
      Media Contacts

      Michael Baker
      Phone (home): (08) 8388 8439
      Phone (work): (08) 8262 3511
      Email: [email protected]

      Greg Taylor
      Phone:  (07) 3370 6362
      Mobile: (0419) 789 904
      Email: [email protected]
      --------------------------------------------------------------

BACKGROUND

Walsh Report
        http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/Walsh/

OECD Crypto policy
	http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/crypto2.html#oecd

The Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)
	http://www.gilc.org
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