Encryption Export Ban Delayed Until Appeal

The Clinton administration, continuing its fight to restrict the export of encryption software, persuaded a judge to delay enforcement of a court ruling that struck down the U.S. export ban. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who said earlier this week that U.S. encryption restrictions violate constitutional free-speech rights, agreed to keep the controversial export rules in effect until at least Sept. 8, to give the Justice Department time to file an appeal. The government’s encryption rules have been under attack in Patel’s San Francisco courtroom in a lawsuit by an Illinois computer science professor, Daniel Bernstein, who has been fighting for the ability to post an encryption program he wrote on the Internet. Saying sophisticated secrecy software would be an invaluable tool for terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals, the government has treated the software like sensitive military equipment, largely banning its export by U.S. companies.