On Sun, 22 Jul 2001, IT3 Stuart B. Tener, USNR-R wrote:
> I am well aware of all the trumpeting of FUD about distributing
> crypto with any Linux kernel, but, can anyone explain how the FreeBSD folks
> (whom presumably don't like US Federal law enforcement poking about up their
> rectums anymore than we do) are getting away with supplying crypto on their
> CD-ROM?
The key issue is the difference between capability and intent. There is
no doubt that the recent liberalization of parts of the US export rules
could be reversed tomorrow by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen. There is
no obvious intent to do this... but intentions are notoriously hard to
assess, and have been known to change.
Code containing contributions from US authors, however slight, is subject
to US export rules forevermore. There is no practical way to free it from
them. So moving crypto code into the body of stuff maintained by a
US-based group is an irrevocable act, whose consequences could be massive
headaches if the US rules ever change for the worse.
So the question is, which is more important to you: convenience today, or
precautions against worst-case future possibilities? Some people think
it's worth wearing a condom, and some don't...
There are also some issues of support. One area the recent relaxation of
rules has *not* affected is technical assistance: private correspondence
with foreigners about technical issues of crypto requires case-by-case
prior approval from the government, even if the crypto in question is
freely exportable. Yes, really.
Henry Spencer
henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Linux-crypto: cryptography in and on the Linux system
Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-crypto/
