Good-bye key escrow, hello key recovery
Wayne Madsen · Computer Fraud & Security · 1996
On 2 October 1996, IBM announced the formation of a new business alliance which will develop a different approach to law enforcement — accessible encryption that will not face government export controls or require the ‘escrowing’ of keys with either escrow ‘quote agents’ or trusted third parties. The day before, the White House announced a new government plan that would permit companies that promise to participate in a ‘key recovery’ system to receive a six-month license to export up to 56-bit DES encryption. When they fulfill their obligations and the government is satisfied that it can get access to the decryption keys, the 56-bit limit will be lifted. If, by the end of the two-year grace period, companies have not fulfilled their obligations to implement a key-recovery scheme, the 56-bit limit will be reduced to the current 40-bit export limit.