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Re: WNPP



On Tue, Mar 28, 2000 at 08:58:38AM +0200, Radovan Garabik wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 27, 2000 at 08:27:29PM -0500, Brian Almeida wrote:
> > ...or maybe not.  It's got cryptographic hashing algos (tiger, sha1, etc), so
> > I probably can't package it due to wonderful US laws. Drat.
> 
> Strange... I read everywhere that US export restrictions are now gone.
> (e.g. just a minute ago the announcement of redhat 6.2)

New regulations were adopted in January that lift some of the restrictions
on cryptographic software, but it's still treated specially by U.S. law.
What's more, those changes were deliberately temporary, and are up for
review next month and may be revoked or replaced.

It is too soon to tell whether the U.S. is going to join the free world
when it comes to crypto or not.  Louis Freeh (Director of the FBI)
testified before Congress this week, and muttered ominously about increases
in "cyber-crime".  You can rest assured that he trotted out his usual
apocalyptic horsemen of child pornography, illegal drug trafficking, and
terrorism on U.S. soil to try and scare Congress into permitting universal
warrantless wiretaps, key escrow, and other acts of urination on the Fourth
Amendment.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson            |    The errors of great men are venerable
Debian GNU/Linux               |    because they are more fruitful than the
branden@ecn.purdue.edu         |    truths of little men.
roger.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ |    -- Friedrich Nietzsche

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