Excerpts from _Washington_Post_ story: ADMINISTRATION STEPS BACK ON COMPUTER SURVEILLANCE 'Clipper Chip' Use to Be Limited to Phones By Elizabeth Corcoran and John Mintz The Clinton Administration retreated yesterday from its efforts to control the method of scrambling private communications on the information superhighway when it said the federal standard will apply only to telphone conversations, not to computer exchanges. The announcement is a significant victory for the U.S. computer software industry. It has said that an electronic device called the Clipper Chip--the name for the government's method of maintaining its ability to eavesdrop-- endangers privacy and damages U.S. exports. Vice President Gore announced a new government position in a letter to Rep. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a Clipper opponent who represents the district that is home to software giant Microsoft Corp. The freshman member of Congress has been negotiating with the administration on Clipper for more than a year. "Clipper is dead," said Jerry Berman, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a high-technology policy and advocacy group. He called Gore's announcement a "big step, both for privacy and security." Gore's letter outlines a framework for future negotiations on the complex subject of how both to secure data communications and guarantee government access to them. But Clipper will not be part of those discussions, Gore said .... Not everybody in the computer industry was pleased. RSA President Jim Bidzos still objects to any plan with key escrow agents, and believes computer industry supporters of the action "have been co-opted.... The White House is buying time by giving us another year of studies.... Berman and others had high praise for freshman Rep. Cantwell, who negotiated directly with Gore. She had introduced legislation to lift the government's restrictions on the export of cryptography products, and it was scheduled for consideration yesterday in House debate on amendments to the Export Administration Act. Industry sources said the prospect for debate on her amendment and on Clipper generally may have pressured the administration to strike a deal."