International Cryptography Regulation and the Global Information Economy

Abstract

With the meteoric rise of the Internet and e-commerce in the 1990s came great attention to the problems and opportunities associated with cryptography. Throughout that decade, the United States and many foreign countries debated and experimented with various forms of cryptography regulation, and attempts were made at international harmonization. Since then, however, policy-making activity around cryptography has slowed, if not halted altogether, leaving individuals and companies to face a bewildering array of regulations—or, in many cases, to face regulations that are extraordinarily unclear and haphazardly applied.\nThis Note seeks to introduce the reader to the issue of international cryptography regulation by focusing on laws in a select group of countries, including the two largest global economies—China and the United States