UK government abandons key escrow

The UK government is expected to turn its back on key escrow when it launches its ecommerce strategy this afternoon.

Ian Taylor, former minister for IT, admitted yesterday that he was wrong to insist on the tapping of encrypted messages by third parties in March 1997.

The news has been heralded as a success by industry figures, who have long opposed the notion that law enforcers should be allowed to decode encrypted transactions in certain circumstances. David Taylor, president of Certus, which represents IT professionals, welcomed Ian Taylor's change of heart as a "very bold and brave" move.

UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair told key businesses such as BT, Hewlett-Packard, ICL, Intel, Microsoft and the Post Office that they have just three weeks to propose an alternative model. Top Department of Trade and Industry civil servant, David Hendon, will chair the task.

Philip Virgo, strategic advisor at the Institute for the Management of Information Systems said: "We already have alternatives. Financial services are already obliged under FSA regulations to have cameras recording their transactions in plain text. Industry is very happy for this to be extended to them - as long as their encrypted transactions remain secure."

Virgo explained that plain text surveillance has already been adopted in France, and is the subject of serious research in the US.

Taylor agreed: "It would be an excellent solution."

Full details of the consultation paper will be released at 12:30pm today.