[TARGET ACQUIRED] Cryptography in France

[Timothy C. May]

At 8:47 AM -0800 11/21/96, John Anonymous MacDonald wrote:

>Here's our target!  France is the perfect testing ground for a
>top-notch cryptoanarchist system.  Lots of computers, lots of smart
>users, high taxes, and a police state.

Not likely.

I gave a talk a couple of years ago in France (well, Monte Carlo, actually,
but the conference was heavily francocentric), and it was clear to me that
France is in the Dark Ages on these issues.

Sure, they've got "Minitel," an ostensibly ubiquitous network. But Minitel
is actually a primitive, sub-Prodigy-class system, controlled by the
government of France and associated special interests (France Telecom,
etc.).

The number of French persons actively on the Internet is fairly low--ask
yourself how many ".fr" domain names you've seen lately, and when you last
saw one on Cypherpunks? I see many more Finnish and even New Zealand domain
names.

Further, encryption is heavily restricted in France. As one French friend
put it, "You can apply for a license to use crypto--the same way you would
apply for a license to buy your own Exocet missile."

So, France is somewhere near the bottom of my list of fertile grounds for
crypto anarchy.

--Tim May



Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay at got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."