Encryption Discrimination from Sun

[Mike Duvos]

I was just browsing through the rules for the million dollar
contest just announced by Sun Microsystems to encourage the
writing of killer applets in Java, Sun's new architecture-
independent program format. 

The URL is http://javacontest.sun.com/rules/index.html in case
anyone is interested.

While reading the contest rules, I found the following one
particularly interesting...

   "No entries may include encryption as a feature
    or part of an applet."

This was made even more curious by the later revelation that
one of the criteria for judging entries was...

   "The applet should be able to transfer information from 
    one point to another, with no possibility of interception 
    or other interference during the process."

Doubtless the reason Sun nixed encryption is because this is an
international contest, and they did not want to deal with legal
hassles involving international borders and different laws in 
every country.    

Nonetheless, they seem to have missed an excellent opportunity
to encourage the migration of privacy software into the new 
realm they are creating. 

--
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd at netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $