This is my first post to the cypherpunks mailing list. I've been monitoring it for a little while now, and I would like to initiate a thread on the sorry state of public crypto in France, and would much much appreciate feedback, comments and thoughts on the following. It is no secret that public crypto here in France is a fucking joke. For those of you who aren't up-to-date with French gov't policy on the subject, let me state the simple: Public use of crypto (and esp. STRONG crypto) is *outlawed* in France. This mere fact gives us (the French) the dubious achievement of being rated along with the likes of China, Iran, Iraq and former USSR, to name a few. Now remember, this comes from a country that labels itself as the "Home country of the Human Rights", yet denies its citizen access to the technical means of ensuring REAL privacy. A much-needed privacy, considering the phone-tapping scandal that rocked France two or three years back (then-prez Miterrand himself had ordered that a whole bunch of people --novelists, journalists, politicians, artists and various other intellectuals-- have their phone tapped and their conversations recorded, without any legal permission to do so. Even an uncle of mine was placed on such a list.). I _do_ believe that a strong case --legally, economically and philosophically-- could be made for the legalization of strong public crypto in France. And I am also confident that we are moving toward a de facto use of strong crypto in everyday life. There are several legal points that could force the French gov't to give some slack on crypto regulation. The first one is, of course, the process of building Europe (I am not so naive as to believe this will be a success, but it WILL provide us with some legal power to wield). Of all nations being part of the EEC, France is the only one that enforces such restrictions on public crypto. But, and this is my point, French gov't has made a big fuss about standardization of regulation throughout EEC and its participants, and when it comes to crypto, I believe they've put their foot in their mouth!! ;-) Second legal point: arguing the moral point of freedom of guaranteed privacy. Outlawing public crypto *might* be unconstitutional, considering that the French constitutions have always been built around the anarchists revolutionaries of 1789 declaration of human rights. The gov't will counter with 'Raison d'Etat' and need for terrorist surveillance, but this is the same as saying weapon sales should be prohibited to keep thugs away from weapons. Thugs *always* manage to get weapons, and terrorists *always* manage to escape surveillance and plant bombs in our streets and metro system. Economically, the case could be made for public crypto by underlining the importance of internet economics. It is a stated and definitive fact that e-cash cannot exist without cryptographic means. Now if the general public hasn't got access to strong crypto, why would they risk dealing in e-cash??? Thus France would be left out of an immense -and as of now virgin- commercial market, which in the near future would mean commercial death. And that's not counting all the employement opportunities that would be, one can speculate, created by the flourishing of web commercial ventures. Ironically, Netscape has been granted by the French gov't an 'extraordinary' license to use cryptography in their Navigator software (even though it's the lame, 40-bit export key size). Which means that, as of now, the one and only company that WOULD technically allow French citizens to engage in electronic commerce is a foreign company... So on one hand we have the French gov't making a huge fuss about 'Cultural Exception' when the subject at hand is protecting the French TV and movie business --which nobody actually gives a damn about--, and on the other hand, the very same gov't not only regulates against strong public crypto, but when it finally gives in a little, it's to the profit of a foreign company.. Next thing you know, France is going to equip all its phones with the Clipper chip so that the NSA can listen in on, say, Airbus trade secrets.. Can you get any dumber than this? The last economically sound point relates to competition. By forbidding strong public crypto, France has seriously hampered the ability of French cryptologists to move forward technically, since they receive much less feedback than, say, their scandinavian or US counterparts. And I believe that, in the long term, strong public crypto WILL prevail --I AM optimistic (or is that naive?). So all the French gov't is doing here is denying would-be French companies to deal competitively in the crypto market, which I am sure will explode with the coming of electronic commerce. My last arguments are of the philosophical/moral/political order. Politics in France have reached an all-time low at the end of 14 years of Socialism (some may disagree on this, but this is MY belief). Corruption is now widespread, at every levels of the public administration, and at all 'rays' of the political spectrum. Politicians now have more privileges than the royalty used to have just before the revolution of 1789, when the laws and budgets were more deftly controlled by house representatives than they are nowadays. Politicians nowadays live as a microcosm, in an enclosed glasscase, protecting each other regardless of ideology or political faith. They act as superior-class citizens where they were meant to be representative of the people, the citizens that mandated them as such. So I believe that strong crypto is not only a right, but a mean that every citizen should use against the preponderance of such a privileged class, in order to make the French motto 'Liberte Egalite Fraternite' something else than an obsolete joke. I'm not an anarchist, nor am I illuminated. I'm a regular guy with a regular job. I'm simply tired of all these self-proclaimed important people that live in the fast lane with MY taxes. And crypto would be a mean for me to combat them more efficiently and to bring back some of that much-needed social equilibrium. And, the hell with it, I want GUARANTEED PRIVACY. On Monday 18 Nov. Greg Broiles wrote:
ICF is "International Cryptography Framework".
The press release includes quotes from US and >>French<< government officials indicating that the new system will meet their needs.
Man, this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E ... ;-) Thomas Hennes aie-rd@pobox.oleane.com PS: I would've loved to CC this thing to Chirac or PM Juppé, but neither of them have actual e-mails, which tells you a lot about the interest they have in net-business...