Forwarded message:
Subject: Re: Building crypto archives worldwide to foil US-built Berlin Walls (fwd)
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 16:43:58 +0100 (MET)
From: 3umoelle@informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Ulf =?iso-8859-1?Q?M=F6ller?=)
Ah, so the call is for folks in Denmark to post the various pieces of
currently available software then, not everyone on the planet as it appears.
It is not just about Denmark. The Wassenaar arrangement has been
signed by 33 countries, including the US, Canada, the European Union,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and others. Up to now, 30 of
these states have allowed to export mass market and public domain
crypto software without a license. Only the US, France and NZ did not
have the "General Software Note".
Which is EXACTLY my point. People are being asked to put their butts on the
line with no infrastructure or plan for what happens when the LEA's show up.
Such poor planning is doomed to fail.
The US has exercised extreme pressure at the Wassenaar conference (as
one German government official writes) and has managed to get the
General Software Note modified. Now the states that have signed the
arrangement will have to regulate the export of strong
cryptography. There are other places such as Brazil, Iceland, South
Africa, India, and even Singapore which do not have any export
restrictions.
And look at their social, economic, and civil liberty records. Other than
Iceland not one area on your list of places has sufficient resources of the
correct type to support this sort of effort.
Iceland is about the only place that has any hope at all.
Is there any move by any group to start some sort of archive there? Are
there any subscribers from Iceland on the CDR? If so, I'd like their view
on how realistic it would be to host a site in Iceland.
John Gilmore writes: "I call for volunteers in each country, at each
university or crypto-aware organization, to download crypto tools
while they can still be exported from where they are, and then to
offer them for export from your own site and your own country as long
as it's legal." ^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Which is exactly what is needed in this situation.
Which, again, is my point. What is Gilmore going to do when they decide to
make it illegal and start hassling these folks who were kind enough to back
him? What does he OWE them for their participation in HIS movement?
RSAREF is what he has determined he can legally export from the US. So,
yes, he is doing what he also asks others to do.
Hm, funny. Looks like EFF owns that site. Gilmore is doing nothing himself.
He's using EFF as a shield for personal liability. Why isn't he suggesting
that others do this instead of direct and personal action? Why is he not
running the gilmore.org site directly? Why isn't he looking at starting some
sort of international organization similar to EFF, or expanding EFF to do
this sort of stuff and at the same time provide the same sort of legal
shield he currently enjoys?
Let me ask you this Ulf, when is YOUR site going up?
My university is already distributing SSLeay, PGP, ssh, cfs and other
cypto tools. As long as they continue to do so, I won't make my mirror
available on the web, but my own crypto site is going up later this
week with another piece of strong crypto software.
Kudos.
What are you going to do for YOUR liberty today? Has Gilmore agreed to
help fund YOUR fight of the change in your courts?
Today I am going to create the distribution of the software I have
been working on in the past months, have the server set up and, if all
goes well, upload the file.
I have made a few thousand dollars on developing crypto software and I
am ready to use much of that money to defend my right to distribute
the results of my work on the web. I haven't asked John or anybody
else to help me.
But John IS asking you, me, and others to help him.
____________________________________________________________________
If I can put in one word what has always infuriated me
in any person, any group, any movement, or any nation,
it is: bullying
Howard Zinn
The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate
Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com
www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087
-====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-
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Jim Choate