Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last week said he plans next month to introduce a bill that would allow U.S. companies immediately to begin exporting stronger encryption software and to export even stronger encryption by Jan. 1, 2002.

Broadcasting & Cable, April, 1999

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last week said he plans next month to introduce a bill that would allow U.S. companies immediately to begin exporting stronger encryption software and to export even stronger encryption by Jan. 1, 2002. "This bill protects our national security and law enforcement interests while maintaining the United States' leadership role in information technology," McCain said.

Up to this point, McCain has opposed exporting strong encryption, and in the last Congress he introduced, along with Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), a bill that would have required software companies to give a key to the government if they wanted to export encryption technology. Kerrey earlier this month publicly reversed his position, saying...

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