--- begin forwarded text Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:04:38 -0300 (ADT) From: M Taylor <mctaylor@privacy.nb.ca> To: cryptography@c2.net Subject: early reports from Austria: possible crypto stalemate (fwd) MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-cryptography@c2.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Sender: efc-talk-owner@insight.cas.mcmaster.ca Subject: early reports from Austria: possible crypto stalemate Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 17:48:20 -0400 (EDT) To: efc-talk@insight.cas.mcmaster.ca From: David Jones <djones@insight.cas.mcmaster.ca> Brief Crypto update: Sources in Vienna, Austria, where the current Wassenaar negotiations have been taking place, seem to indicate that there have been no changes on international crypto policy. This is generally regarded as a "good sign", since it means the hard liners (Russia, US, France, UK, NZ) haven't been successful, and those countries advocating a more liberal policy may be sticking to their positions. The next time int'l crypto policy is to be formally negotiated is apparently early in December. -- djones@efc.ca P.S. If anyone happens to be fluent in German, maybe you could help us by translating, or summarizing, in English: http://www.mediaweb.at/akmg/news/wassenaar.html ---------------- (via babelfish) http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?urltext=http%3A%2F%... w.mediaweb.at%2Fakmg%2Fnews%2Fwassenaar.html&lp=de_en In my very brief summary: it appears that a stalemate was reached in regards to the public domain exemption ("General Software Note" in Canada) of cryptography. The heavyweights (US, UK, France, Russia) want to remove it while others (much of Europe?, Canada?) want to preserve it. There is also mention of key-escrow, but I'm not certain if that is tied to the Wassenaar Agreement talks. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'