Duncan Frissell wrote:
It would be interesting for those in other jurisdictions to comment about how *their* rulers might view anonymous communications and strong crypto.
In Sweden there has been no public discussion at all. Well, there was a TV news item a month ago about GSM (not how this, compared to older in-the-clear protocols, could strengthen privacy - of course - but how GSM could be used by Terrorists and Drug Dealers). A representative of a leading Swedish GSM provider was interviewed; he said that there was no tapping abilities built into their system but that it would cost a mere $1.000.000 in software development to fix it (and obviously, if legislation a la DTB would be forthcoming, he would happily implement it - if someone else paid the bill). My general impression is that a semi-secret committee is following the situation in the US very closely. If GAK comes true over at your side of the Atlantic we would probably follow in a year or so. Then there is the tragedy of the European Community. Sweden might very well join next year, depending on the outcome of a referendum due in two months. And the leading politruks will not take a no for a no but pull some tricks and offer new referendums until they get what they want - more personal power and fat-paying seats in Brussels - like they did in Denmark - and the propaganda, paid for by the government, in favor of joining the United States of Europe is so strong that we might vote yes in the first place (a stable majority against joining seems to be declining rapidly). The rectification of Europe is against everything a crypto anarchist stands for: French-style bureaucracy, German-style standardization, a huge increase in the number of laws and regulations (down to the shapes of cucumbers and %meat in sausages) - and loss of opportunities for the politically uncorrect to hide in other juris- dictions. If Sweden falls, so does Finland for sure, and possibly Norway. So in a few years the legitimacy of anon.penet.fi might very well be decided by the huge cancer-bureaucracy in Brussels. As for the present legal situation in Sweden - nobody seems to know. The only net.lawyer I ever heard of here is working for the SPA. The few computer related trials have dealt with software piracy. Oh, years ago a Fido BBS user (message-writer) was fined for degrading remarks on some minority - we have laws against group-libel. The most obvious change regarding privacy if we join the EC will be the status of 'public' information. In Sweden every citizen has a right to know all information, about anybody, stored in most national and other public registers. This is not so in EC. Some say that the EC way gives more privacy. I say (I think...) that as long as the stored information is public the politruks dare not make the registered information too detailed or otherwise offensive. Mats