Encryption #

US Encryption Law, 1970s-1990s #

• Encryption used to be regulated as a “munition”
• “Export-grade” cryptography forced by federal regulations to be weaker than cryptography for US market
• Regulations eventually relaxed around 2000
  • Still export controls for software with cryptographic functionality (but now loosening)
• Free-speech challenges by CS professors
  • Bernstein v. U.S. DOJ (9th Cir. 1999)
  • Junger v. Daley (6th Cir. 2000)
• Impact on modern-day web security
  • FREAK attack (export-grade RSA)
  • Logjam attack (export-grade Diffie-Hellman)
  • DROWN attack (export-grade RSA)