High-Tech CEOs Release Studies on E-Commerce and Encryption at BSA Forum

HighTech CEOs Release Studies on ECommerce and Encryption at BSA Forum —

At the Business Software Alliance’s Third Annual CEO Forum this week, a group of the nation’s leading high-tech CEOs, including Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates, released two new studies: one on the benefits of electronic commerce and another on the cost of “key escrow” encryption.

According to the first study, E-Commerce: Policy Principles Developed by Members of the BSA on Critical Issues Facing the Future of Electronic Commerce, traffic on the Internet doubles every 100 days; at least 46 million Americans will be shopping online by the year 2000; and advertising spending on the Internet reached $1 billion in 1997, triple the amount spent in 1996. The encryption study, The Cost of Government-Driven Key Escrow Encryption, shows that it would cost consumers billions of dollars annually to comply with a key-escrow encryption system like the one currently proposed by the U.S. government.

“Collectively, the American software industry invests billions of dollars each year developing great products for business, educational and home use,” Gates said. “It’s important that U.S. laws protect these investments if our industry is to continue to grow and benefit consumers.”

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