ABSTRACT
Some members of the audience still sought their places when the music ofMozart began wafting through the room before the House Economic Policy, Trade and Environment Subcommittee. Suddenly, the room filled with static, and, just as suddenly, the music began anew. With a few strokes on the keyboard of a laptop computer, representatives of the Business Software Alliance had connected with a computer site in Germany, copied and imported an encryption software program that used a data encryption standard algorithm (a 56-bit code key used on blocks of 64 bits), played, encrypted, and decoded the digitally stored sounds. The witnesses noted that with a single keystroke they could transfer the encryption program back to its source in Germany or anywhere else. They choose not to transmit the program because exporting encryption software with a data encryption standard algorithm without a license would violate the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
