Mr. Spencer: Fair enough! I figured the answer was based on FUD rather than US constitutional law or current administrative practice. Very Respectfully, Stuart Blake Tener, IT3, USNR-R, N3GWG Beverly Hills, California VTU 1904G (Volunteer Training Unit) stuart@xxxxxxxxxxx west coast: (310)-358-0202 P.O. Box 16043, Beverly Hills, CA 90209-2043 east coast: (215)-338-6005 P.O. Box 45859, Philadelphia, PA 19149-5859 Telecopier: (419)-715-6073 fax to email gateway via www.efax.com (it's free!) JOIN THE US NAVY RESERVE, SERVE YOUR COUNTRY, AND BENEFIT FROM IT ALL. Sunday, July 22, 2001 6:34 PM -----Original Message----- From: owner-linux-crypto@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-linux-crypto@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Henry Spencer Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 6:20 PM To: linux-crypto@xxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: FreeBSD + Crypto 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/ Linux-crypto: cryptography in and on the Linux system Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-crypto/
