[Clips] Feds mull regulation of quantum computers

[R. A. Hettinga]

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 Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:34:00 -0500
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 Subject: [Clips] Feds mull regulation of quantum computers
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 <http://news.com.com/2102-11395_3-5942445.html?tag=st.util.print>

 CNET News

  Feds mull regulation of quantum computers

  By Declan McCullagh
 http://news.com.com/Feds+mull+regulation+of+quantum+computers/2100-11395_3-5942445.html


  Story last modified Wed Nov 09 14:18:00 PST 2005


 WASHINGTON--Quantum computers don't exist outside the laboratory. But the
 U.S. government appears to be exploring whether it should be illegal to
 ship them overseas.

 A federal advisory committee met Wednesday to hear an IBM presentation
 about just how advanced quantum computers have become--with an eye toward
 evaluating when the technology might be practical enough to merit
 government regulation.

 "I like to say we're back in 1947 at the time transistors were invented,"
 David DiVincenzo, an IBM researcher who focuses on quantum computing, told
 the committee.

 Only rough prototypes of quantum computers presently exist. But if a
 large-scale model can be built, in theory it could break codes used to
 scramble information on the Internet, in banking, and within federal
 agencies.

 A certain class of encryption algorithms relies for security on the
 near-impossibility of factoring large numbers quickly. But quantum
 computers, at least on paper, can do that calculation millions of times
 faster than a conventional microprocessor.

 "It's clear there are promising avenues for doing this," DiVincenzo said of
 quantum computing research. "There's lots and lots of work done at the
 basic research level and a sense of progress in the community."

 The technology industry has been long bedeviled by federal export
 regulations, which were born during the Cold War and renewed by executive
 order. And although the highly regulatory approach of the mid-'90s has been
 relaxed, the export of "high-performance" computers is still subject to
 several rules, as is encryption software.

 It's not clear what steps the federal government might take next, and no
 proposals were advanced during the meeting. The charter of the panel,
 called the Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee, calls for the
 panel to "advise" the Commerce Department on export regulations and what
 technology is presently available.

 A practical quantum computer may still be far off, but the use of quantum
 physics already appears in some commercially-available technology. An
 approach known as quantum cryptography provides encryption that is
 theoretically impossible to crack--and, at the moment, carries a hefty
 price tag.

 The federal advisory committee didn't address quantum cryptography in its
 open session. A closed session was scheduled for Thursday.

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 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
 "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
 [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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