§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to her answer of 27 April 1998,Official Report, column 26, if it is her intention, as part of her proposals to regulate the use of encryption on public networks, to impose the escrow of encryption keys for data which comprises patients' personal medical information. [51793]
§ Mrs. RocheNo. The proposals we hope to bring forward in relation to secure electronic commerce will set up a voluntary licensing regime for organisations offering cryptography services to the public. It would be only those organisations seeking licences to provide confidentiality services that would be required to keep copies of the encryption keys of clients.