
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GOVERNMENT TO PUSH SECRET-LISTENING CHIPS

Turning aside vehement objections from computer makers, communications companies and civil rights groups concerned about privacy, the Clinton administration adopted Friday a technology that would enable law enforcement agencies to intercept coded telephone and computer communications.

It is meant to solve a difficult problem created by the explosion in electronic communications. With commercial coding technology becoming more affordable and more convenient almost every day, law enforcement agencies say it is becoming increasingly difficult to carry out traditional forms of wire-tapping.

Top officials from the Justice and Commerce Departments said they would combat this trend by pushing federal agencies - and urging private companies - to use an encoding device called the "Clipper Chip" in telephone and computer equipment.

The Clipper Chip, proposed last April, was designed in cooperation with the National Security Agency, the secret federal agency that monitors communications in countries around the world.

The technology contains a secret "back door" that makes it possible for law enforcement officials to unscramble the billions of bits of digital information that flow through networks in the form of phone calls or computer data.

The government cannot require private manufacturers to adopt the Clipper Chip, or force corporations or individuals to use it. The administration is hoping the government's huge purchasing power will make the chip a standard for private industry.

The administration will strongly encourage federal agencies to require the chip in equipment they buy. The agencies may even require the thousands of companies that do business with the government to install it.

The administration's action immediately drew a chorus of criticism from business and privacy-rights groups. Computer and software companies believe customers will not trust an encryption program built by the government and whose inner workings remain a secret.

They also predict that foreign customers will resist buying computers and telecommunications equipment built with decoding technology devised by the National Security Agency.

Privacy-rights groups argue that the technology could lead to unauthorized eavesdropping.

by CNB