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This article only hints at what was well known at the time-- that this was simply the first step in an attempt to outlaw cryptography altogether. The next step

This article only hints at what was well known at the time-- that this was simply the first step in an attempt to outlaw cryptography altogether. The next step was to either pass a law requiring key disclosure, our outlaw cryptography alltoegether. If you think that sounds far fetched... remember at the time this article was written they were trying to jail Phill Zimmerman for writing PGP.

Fnoord 9y ago
Seems many EU and FVEY countries went with the key disclosure laws [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law
delinka 9y ago
"...they were trying to jail Phill Zimmerman for writing PGP." Writing it or exporting it? Sure, their motivations may have been due to the former (is there even documentation for that?), but IIRC the technical reason was that, because it'd been made available online for anyone on the planet to download, they tried to pin "export of munitions" on Phil.
- oceanghost 9y ago
  What method would you propose could be used to allow only US citizens to use a piece of software? The law is pretty damn clear. Create strong encryption, go to jail.
  - delinka 9y ago
    It's not the author's job to prevent use of his software by specific individuals as deemed by the US government. It is, however, any citizen's responsibility not to break the law by sending or carrying stuff outside the US. And indeed, the law is pretty clear: export "munitions" (according to a list - at the time "strong encryption" was on the list) and you'll feel the wrath of Uncle Sam. But they dropped their case against Zimmerman. Never filed charges. Probably because there was no evidence that he was the one to export PGP.
    - reaperducer 9y ago
      >It's not the author's job to prevent use of his software by specific individuals as deemed by the US government. I think the gub'mint might have a different opinion on that. I used to have a GRiD Compass laptop computer that came to me via a friend of a friend of someone in the Reagan administration. On the back of it was a list of countries in which it was legal to operate or possess the computer, due to the software inside.
      - delinka 9y ago
        So the author wasn’t preventing a thing, but relying on the operator of the system to observe the list and behave correctly.

Fnoord 9y ago

Seems many EU and FVEY countries went with the key disclosure laws [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law

delinka 9y ago

"...they were trying to jail Phill Zimmerman for writing PGP." Writing it or exporting it? Sure, their motivations may have been due to the former (is there even documentation for that?), but IIRC the technical reason was that, because it'd been made available online for anyone on the planet to download, they tried to pin "export of munitions" on Phil.

oceanghost 9y ago
What method would you propose could be used to allow only US citizens to use a piece of software? The law is pretty damn clear. Create strong encryption, go to jail.
- delinka 9y ago
  It's not the author's job to prevent use of his software by specific individuals as deemed by the US government. It is, however, any citizen's responsibility not to break the law by sending or carrying stuff outside the US. And indeed, the law is pretty clear: export "munitions" (according to a list - at the time "strong encryption" was on the list) and you'll feel the wrath of Uncle Sam. But they dropped their case against Zimmerman. Never filed charges. Probably because there was no evidence that he was the one to export PGP.
  - reaperducer 9y ago
    >It's not the author's job to prevent use of his software by specific individuals as deemed by the US government. I think the gub'mint might have a different opinion on that. I used to have a GRiD Compass laptop computer that came to me via a friend of a friend of someone in the Reagan administration. On the back of it was a list of countries in which it was legal to operate or possess the computer, due to the software inside.
    - delinka 9y ago
      So the author wasn’t preventing a thing, but relying on the operator of the system to observe the list and behave correctly.