In article <3709ip$e0@quagga.ru.ac.za> csgr@cs.ru.ac.za writes:
>In <36vklt$ir7@oversteer.library.uwa.edu.au> carl@oversteer.library.uwa.edu.au (Carl Brewer) writes:
>
>>I've decided to encrypt with DES, after the advice that crypt(1)
>>is very weak encryption (ENIGMA based?).
> [ ... ]
>Before everyone goes off and starts ftp'ing from sites in .au, please
>would everyone take note of the fact that the export of encyption
>technology from Australia is also illegal. Please avoid getting the
>maintainers of ftp sites into trouble, and rather download code from
>sites such as ftp.funet.fi. (Yes I know a lot of the code there came
>from Australia, but indications are that the Australian DoD is not too
>worried about code that is already outside Australia.)
>
>(Time for a few countries, incl. Australia, USA, and France to throw
>out some of the f*cking stupid laws.)
THEY don't think they are stupid: The goal is to hinder the availability
of good crypto to the average person, and in that regard, they are having
an effect. It has nothing to do with 'national security', it has
everything to do with BB controlling PEOPLE (as do most of the laws
being pushed of late). How can they detect all these 'crimes' that
produce no identifiable victim or complainant if they cannot snoop at
will?! Commercial packages generally must use toy encryption to be
marketable to a sizeable audience, without nasty legal hassles. So as
a result, the average PC user is being denied good software in this area
via usual outlets.
With that in mind, I suspect the chance of repealing these idiotic laws
is somewhere between zero and none. Curious Au and the Us have similar
laws in this area, isn't it?
'We are from the government, and are here to save you from yourself - even
if we have to kill you to do so...'
-- pat@rwing [If all fails, try: rwing!pat@eskimo.com] Pat Myrto - Seattle WA "No one has the right to destroy another person's belief by demanding empirical evidence." -- Ann Landers, nationally syndicated advice columnist and Director at Handgun Control Inc.
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