Encryption-Controls Measure Rejected

The House Commerce Committee rejected a far-reaching proposal requiring all data-scrambling products to include a back door allowing government access to otherwise secure computer files and communications. On a 35-16 vote, members of the panel rejected an amendment from Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) to impose such controls. The vote followed several hours of heated debate and weeks of lobbying by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies backing the Oxley amendment and high-tech companies and Internet and civil liberties groups opposing the plan.