Communications Privacy: Federal Policy and Actions
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined whether federal policies negatively affect U.S. corporations' ability to protect themselves against economic espionage, focusing on: (1) the need for information privacy in computer and communications systems to prevent economic espionage; (2) federal agency authority to develop cryptographic standards for protection of sensitive, unclassified information and the actions and policies of various agencies regarding the selection of federal cryptographic standards; (3) the National Security Agency's (NSA) and the Department of State's export control policies for encryption-capable products and the industry's rationale for requesting liberalization of such controls; and (4) the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) proposed legislation regarding telephone systems that use digital communications technology.