U.S. SEEKS STRONGER POLICE HAND AGAINST COMPUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department said Friday that it had
drafted legislation to allow investigators to enter homes or offices
secretly to disable computer scrambling programs they suspect of being used
for criminal purposes.

"The proposals are still a work in progress," Tim Robinson, assistant
attorney general for the Criminal Division, said at a news conference
without elaborating on the proposed bill.

The move by the Justice Department follows growth in the use of software
programs that encrypt, or scramble, computer files, which can only be
accessed by a key, or special code.

The department is increasingly concerned with what it calls the
"significant and undeniable public safety risk when (encryption is) used to
facilitate and mask illegal and criminal activity" and wants to target "bad
people with good technology."

The proposed Cyberspace Electronic Security Act would allow investigators
to ask judges for a warrant to enter a suspect's home or office to search
for passwords or encryption programs and install devices that override such
programs, according to a recent Justice Department memo.

At issue is how to balance personal and business privacy against the
police's desire to counter potential crimes or criminals and gather
evidence needed by investigators.

In an Aug. 4 letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Jon Jennings, acting
assistant attorney general, said the government recognized the importance
of privacy but worried that certain encryption software could become a
"safe haven" for criminals.

"While cryptography has many legitimate and important uses, it is also
increasingly used as a means to promote criminal

activity, such as drug trafficking, terrorism, white collar crime and the
distribution of child pornography," the letter said. "Failure to adequately
address this need provides criminals with a safe haven not available before"

Robinson said law enforcement agencies were trying to keep pace with the
rapid advance of technology. But he declined to discuss specific actions
envisioned in the proposed bill despite an earlier report in The Washington
Post.

He said Attorney General Janet Reno and White House officials had looked
over the proposal.

Department officials have said the legislation differs very little, if at
all, from current laws on obtaining warrants, and they question how good a
wiretap, for example, would be if suspects were informed beforehand.

Civil liberties groups, however, have expressed alarm.

"We have always based our criminal procedure, constitutional procedure, on
the principle if the government wants evidence, it has to come to you,
serve you with a warrant and a notice," James Dempsey of the Center for
Democracy and Technology said.

REUTERS