Re: US Encryption Policy Change Now Official!
On Fri, Jan 14, 2000 at 03:36:45PM -0500, Colin Walters wrote:
> >>>>> "Bear" == Bear Giles <bear@coyotesong.com> writes:
>
> Bear> I think that's what the ham radio licenses are intended to
> Bear> address. Operating a ham station without a license is a
> Bear> criminal act. Some licenses require special software to
> Bear> operate, and this software has no use other than operation
> Bear> of a specific type of ham station. Therefore anyone using
> Bear> the software must be planning to operate a ham station.
> Bear> Therefore knowingly providing the software to someone
> Bear> without a suitable license is aiding the commission of a
> Bear> crime.
>
> This is a very, very dangerous line of reasoning. If you believe
> this, then you should probably believe that all software should
> include clauses restricting its use to only those activities which are
> legal in all countries. Should GCC have a restriction preventing it
> from compiling software which could be used to crack into other
> computers? If country X has a law against viewing any "adult
> pictures" on one's computer, should all of the image viewing software
> come with a restriction that you can't use it to view adult pictures?
> Who defines an "adult picture"? What if definitions in different
> countries conflict? Do you take the most restrictive? The least
> restrictive? The middle ground?
>
> It is impossible for one to be responsible for every concieveable use
> of one's software in all possible countries. Therefore, software
> should be free of ridiculous restrictions like the one on the ham
> radio station software.
If one were to apply the logic that there should be a license
restriction on any software which could be used to control ham radio
equipment, it would also have to apply to the kernel!
I don't think so....
Furthermore, it takes specialized equipment in addition to software
(and in most cases no software is required) to operate a ham radio
station.
Bob (licensed ham operator since 1952)
--
Bob Nielsen, N7XY (ex-W6SWE) (RN2) nielsen@primenet.com
Tucson, AZ DM42nh QRP-L #1985 http://www.primenet.com/~nielsen
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