Encryption Regulations
David Musick (David_Musick@msn.com)
Wed, 1 Jan 97 22:48:05 UT
As I was considering the way that the United States is trying to restrict
export of cryptographic algorithms, I was thinking about the guy who
distributed PGP anyway, in spite of the laws against doing so. He got in some
trouble for doing so, but what if he had distributed it over the Internet,
through anonymous remailers, so no one would know who sent it? All he really
has to do is get it to someone outside of the United States and let *them*
distribute the software far and wide. As far as I see it, the United States'
ban on the exportation of encryption algorithms is a hollow sentiment. People
in the U.S. who have developed encryption algorithms, who want to export them
can simply send them (encrypted, of course) through the Internet, via
anonymous remailers, to their friends in other countries, who can distribute
them from there, outside the jurisdiction of the United States. If they want
to sell the software commercially, all they have to do is work with friends in
other countries, who will do the distribution and selling of the software, as
business partners.
Is it really as easy as I think it is to walk right through the United States'
encryption ban? Or am I missing something?
- David Musick
-- Anarchy is simply when every country has a population of one. --