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Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 15:33:10 +0100 From: "Albert P. Franco, II" <apf2@apf2.com> Subject: Re: German government press release on Wassenaar (fwd)

I think the key idea which allows Open Source to be exempted is based on the availability to all eyes of the technology--not the legal rights attached to the software.

The fact that the knowledge contained in Open Source software is available to all is the key. The legal right to use that knowledge is not quite the issue. If the knowledge in the software becomes "common knowledge" then defining its (illegal) export becomes extremely difficult.

The problem I see with this is that the knowledge about the crypto system doesn't come from the source but rather from the mathematics that it is founded upon. If this line of reasoning is followed to its logical conclusion then publishing a paper on the algorithm also transmits that knowledge making particular knowledge of the software (ie whether I used a do-loop instead of a if statement) rather irrelevant. Now if it's not the particulars of the implimentation that we're protecting and it's not the mathematics itself then exactly what is it that we're protecting by imposing these closed source limitations? It looks to me like an unintentional(?) attempt to put commercial closed source crypto out of business. Under these regulations doesn't it mean that any business that isn't OS faces additional hurdles in its operation? Any business that is OS faces the problem of income stream which still isn't completely worked out for OS companies. This implies a longer time to market for OS crypto products. Also, since the source of PGP has always been avaiable doesn't this now make it permissible to export without restriction? ____________________________________________________________________ What raises the standard of living may well diminish the quality of life. The Club of Rome The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------