US government holds back encryption export laws

NEWS The US government has delayed the easing of export restrictions on encryption products. New rules on how companies can sell security products to countries outside the US were due to be published on 15 December, but will not now be issued until 14 January. A draft version of the rules published in November was heavily criticised by the industry. The rules are to be relaxed because of the increasing importance of Internet security and the growing number of non-US companies providing full-strength encryption products.