Overcoming national security concerns, French Prime Minister Mr Lionel Jospin has relaxed laws prohibiting the use of strong encryption on the Internet. The move was part of a series of measures to encourage Internet use in France, which has been lagging behind other Western European countries.
Welcomed by French commentators as "the abandonment of the Maginot Line", users can now freely use software "keys" of up to 128 bits in length, up from a previous legal maximum of 40 bits.
Previously, users of greater than 40-bit encryption had to deposit a copy of the keys with a state-appointed body. Mr Jospin had promised nearly a year ago to allow 56-bit keys, but the decision, announced last week, to freely allow 128-bit keys caught observers by surprise.
Each extra bit in a software key doubles the amount of effort necessary to break a code by trial and error of all possible combinations. Security experts say it would take thousands of years for even the most powerful supercomputers to break codes based on 128-bit keys. However, codes based on 56-bit keys have been broken in hours.
France's encryption policy, formulated in 1996, was built around giving state security bodies access to codes which could be used by criminals or terrorists. But with higher-security encryption products readily available on the Web, criminals or terrorists could readily get their hands on 128-bit encryption within minutes. Thus, argued the pro-Internet industry lobby, the government policy did nothing to deter criminals using the Internet, but did deter ordinary users who felt their privacy could be compromised.
In particular, they argued, public perception of inadequate security has inhibited the use of the Internet as a purchasing channel. The Net is currently being massively marketed in France, and the government is acutely aware the country is only catching up with Germany and Britain.
Le Monde last week called France the "poor Internet student of Europe", and said only 8 per cent of French adults had used the Web, compared to figures of 10 per cent for Germany, and 15 per cent for Britain.
The US government still regards secure encryption products as military products for the purposes of export, which means software using more than 56-bit encryption cannot be exported from the US.
Eoin Licken is at elicken@irish-times.ie
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