MEDIA ALERT                                                June 17, 1997

Bernstein Encryption Hearing Press Conference June 18, 1997


WHAT:    Press Conference

     Immediately following oral arguments in front of Federal Judge
Marilyn Hall Patel, Professor Dan Bernstein, his lawyer and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation will hold a press conference.  After
brief statements issued by each, there will be a media question and
answer period.
                        
     NOTE: This will be the first time that Dan Bernstein publicly
discusses the issue of encryption and his case specifically.

     After Judge Patel declared that government restriction of Professor
Dan Bernstein's freedom to publish and speak on encryption technologies
was a violation of the First Amendment, the federal government moved
encryption oversight from the State Department to the Commerce
Department.  With this oversight authority change, the government
claimed that it could still enforce the unconstitutionally-ruled
regulations.  Bernstein, the professor who first challenged the
government's regulation, is once again taking steps to insure that First
Amendment rights are not violated.

     Judge Patel will be hearing oral arguments to decide if the same
restrictions under different authority are still a violation of the
First Amendment.

WHO:     Statements and Q&A sessions will be conducted by:
             Professor Dan Bernstein, Plaintiff
             Cindy Cohn, Legal Counsel for Plaintiff
             John Gilmore, Board Member, Electronic Frontier Foundation

WHERE:   Federal Building
             450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco
             Turk Street entrance
                
WHEN:    Wednesday, June 18th
             10:15pm (Oral Arguments)
             12:00pm (Press Conference)

CONTACT: Dave Steer
             Fleishman-Hillard, Inc.
             415.356.1024 or steerd@fleishman.com