The Walsh Report

From: http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Crypto/Walsh/

 In February 1997, the Australian Attorney-General's
 Department put a hold on the public release of the Walsh
 Report, an important review of Australian cryptography
 policy.

 The report, entitled Review of policy relating to encryption
 technologies, is the outcome of a study conducted in 1996 by
 Gerard Walsh, a former deputy director-general of the Australian
 Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Publication of the
 report was eagerly awaited by members of the law enforcement
 community, other government departments, commerce, and the online
 community. It was expected that the report would examine the the
 various issues in the cryptography debate and encourage further
 comment and consultation. 

 The report was listed for sale by the Australian Government
 Publishing Service in January 1997, but was hurriedly withdrawn
 from the list 3 weeks later, following an enquiry by Electronic
 Frontiers Australia (EFA) as to the reasons why it was not actually
 available for sale. The original intention had apparently been to
 allow for a 3-month consultation period for public comment. EFA then
 released a Media Statement calling for the release of the report. 

 In March 1997, EFA applied for release of the report under the Freedom
 of Information Act. This request was denied, quoting various sections
 of the Act relating to national security and law enforcement as
 justification for the denial. EFA then submitted a request for review
 of the decision, and this request was successful, resulting in the 
 release of an edited photocopy of the report in June 1997. 

 This is an important report and covers a number of issues of relevance
 to the global cryptography debate. 

 A number of paragraphs were deleted from the copy supplied to EFA. These
 have been identified in the report, together with an annotation referring
 to the section of the report under which that paragraph was claimed to be
 exempt from release. 

 However, in December 1998, the missing sections were obtained. The originally
 deleted paragraphs have been highlighted in red. 

Thanks to EFA for providing the electronic versions of the Walsh report.
It is reproduced here for completeness.

The EFA homepage is located at:

	http://www.efa.org.au/