Article: Hewlett-Packard encryption system to allow governments to set limits Company to produce chips with most powerful software, but `token' to control use depending on a nation's laws

Hewlett-Packard Co. has unveiled a new plan that could put top-quality encryption software into millions of computers worldwide. But the system could make it easier for governments around the world to limit their citizens' use of encryption.

Globally, governments are seeking ways to control encryption technology, which can make it impossible to read an intercepted computer message.

Encryption -- which scrambles messages so they can't be read -- can be used to protect legitimate business transactions, or can be used by domestic criminals and foreign terrorists to conceal their activities. To prevent this, the US government sets strict limits on the export of encryption hardware and software ...

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