3 ms·

Wasn't PGP illegal in France in the 1990s? Do they expect people to trust them?

by stesch 8y ago

klmr 8y ago
> Wasn't PGP illegal in France in the 1990s? Essentially yes (and not just PGP), strong cryptography fell under arms regulations and required, essentially, the equivalent of a firearms license (but was, by contrast, almost impossible to obtain). Import and export of cryptography technology are still regulated, though [1]. > Do they expect people to trust them? I’m not sure what you mean by that: This isn’t a trust issue, the French government is/was completely upfront about these restrictions. [1] https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000801164#LEGISCTA000006136109 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFT...
- emiliobumachar 8y ago
  The trust issue is whether to trust the French government to care about the privacy of individual citizens over its own surveillance capability towards those citizens, when it made the opposite tradeoff in the past. Though I agree it's not as bad as if they had been caught lying on the topic. Still, are they specifically saying the tool will protect people from the government itself?
- loup-vaillant 8y ago
  Wait a minute, does this means what I have done with Monocypher¹ is illegal? I live in France, and I clearly provided and exported "cryptographic means", and I haven't written a word to our prime minister. Same goes for Libsodium by the way, I doubt Franck Denis bothered to ask permission as well. [1]: https://monocypher.org https://monocypher.org
  - klmr 8y ago
    As far as I understand (I haven’t lived in France since 2004), the import and export restrictions are essentially unenforced, and nobody cares (as long as you’re not actively trading with embargoed nations). But if you’re working in cryptography, it might be worth talking to other local experts. There are surely user groups that know the legal situation inside out — at the very least, publicly funded researchers should be able to point you to resources.
seszett 8y ago
Why would people not trust the current government's endeavours because of the state of things about twenty years and ten governments ago?

Wasn't PGP illegal in France in the 1990s? Do they expect people to trust them?

by stesch 8y ago

Wasn't PGP illegal in France in the 1990s? Do they expect people to trust them?

klmr 8y ago

> Wasn't PGP illegal in France in the 1990s? Essentially yes (and not just PGP), strong cryptography fell under arms regulations and required, essentially, the equivalent of a firearms license (but was, by contrast, almost impossible to obtain). Import and export of cryptography technology are still regulated, though [1]. > Do they expect people to trust them? I’m not sure what you mean by that: This isn’t a trust issue, the French government is/was completely upfront about these restrictions. [1] https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000801164#LEGISCTA000006136109 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFT...

emiliobumachar 8y ago
The trust issue is whether to trust the French government to care about the privacy of individual citizens over its own surveillance capability towards those citizens, when it made the opposite tradeoff in the past. Though I agree it's not as bad as if they had been caught lying on the topic. Still, are they specifically saying the tool will protect people from the government itself?
loup-vaillant 8y ago
Wait a minute, does this means what I have done with Monocypher¹ is illegal? I live in France, and I clearly provided and exported "cryptographic means", and I haven't written a word to our prime minister. Same goes for Libsodium by the way, I doubt Franck Denis bothered to ask permission as well. [1]: https://monocypher.org https://monocypher.org
- klmr 8y ago
  As far as I understand (I haven’t lived in France since 2004), the import and export restrictions are essentially unenforced, and nobody cares (as long as you’re not actively trading with embargoed nations). But if you’re working in cryptography, it might be worth talking to other local experts. There are surely user groups that know the legal situation inside out — at the very least, publicly funded researchers should be able to point you to resources.

seszett 8y ago

Why would people not trust the current government's endeavours because of the state of things about twenty years and ten governments ago?