Press release from the Ministry of Economy
Export control for encryption technology loosened
War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery?
My first reaction was something along that line. However there are a two important points to note: 1.) Officials point out that "export control" does not mean "export restriction". There are forms of "export control" (such as the requirement to notify the Export Office of your exports) that do not hinder the export of crypto software in any significant way. So it remains to be seen how Germany and other countries will implement the new rules. 2.) The government has acknowledged that public domain software remains unrestricted. This also applies to copyrighted software such as PGP which "has been made available without restrictions upon its further dissemination".