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This is precisely one of the reasons why OpenBSD was developed in Canada (crypto). No such regulations barring import/export of crypto. In the end, it's imposs

This is precisely one of the reasons why OpenBSD was developed in Canada (crypto). No such regulations barring import/export of crypto. In the end, it's impossible to police the use of strong encryption. Things like Waste and many others saw this coming back in the "Clipper chip" and PGP trouble days. What would end up happening is people just start appealing to OTP. Well-designed OTP is very resistant to attack. This all reminds me of Neal Stephenson's seminal book, Cryptonomicon, one of the best IT fiction books ever written. If you have an interest in encryption, coding, data havens, currency, etc., this is the book for you. It's a veritable tome. * Editing to say that despite Cryptonomicon being written in 1999, I still think it holds its own even now. Kind of a timeless classic as far as IT goes.

wedn3sday 7y ago
My absolute favorite book of all time, Neal Stephenson is an international treasure.
- stirfrykitty 7y ago
  Ditto on favorite. The man has the knack and the knowledge to put out some fantastic stories. I've often wondered why no one has picked up Crytonomicon for a film. I think with the right directors and actors, the movie would be fantastic. I envision a full 3-hour film (it would almost have to be).
  - komali2 7y ago
    Neal Stephenson says it's because his books are too long. Although, allegedly, Amazon is making Snow Crash into a miniseries, and again allegedly, Tom Howard is directing a Seveneves movie. Weird, that, because I didn't think Seveneves was "finished." All that just to set the stage for Elves, Dwarves, and Man, but no followup stories of Elves, Dwarves, and Man? Weird.
    - stirfrykitty 7y ago
      Snow Crash would be the only other book that I could see as a film, although Reamde might do well, too.
      - hprotagonist 7y ago
        nah ;)
      - Yetanfou 7y ago
        Anathem [1] is another book which could be turned into a script for a movie or series. It has a host of colourful characters, scenery varying from something resembling a medieval abbey to space ships, a fairly linear plot line and enough action to keep a modern audience from reaching for their mobile comfort devices. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem
    - MrMember 7y ago
      I think Seveneves could work as a movie, and actually be good. I don't know how they'd handle the story "transition" though.
      - JetSpiegel 7y ago
        Please split it in two. There's enough plot to go around in the present, no need to contaminate with the future stuff. A single post-credits scene as a teaser for the second film is acceptable.
bayareanative 7y ago
Remember that stable democracies always have the potential become authoritarian dictatorships. History is littered with examples: France, Germany, Japan, Chile, Turkey and to a lesser extent, the authoritarian strongmen who were elected in the US, India, Brazil, Venezuela and many more.
- 99052882514569 7y ago
  >France, Germany, Japan, Chile, Turkey Not a single one of these was ever a stable democracy before becoming a dictatorship. Unless maybe you're referring to Vichy France, but that's more of an occupation.
  - CapricornNoble 7y ago
    Turkey wasn't stable prior to Erdogan?
    - smilliken 7y ago
      It has a long repetitive history of violent transitions in power, including the last couple hundred years.
      - CapricornNoble 7y ago
        Turkish democracy is barely 100 years old. If we are looking at a timeline of ~200 years, even the US won't come across as particularly stable, what with the Civil War and multiple Presidential assassinations since 1819.
        xref 7y ago
        None of those assassinations lead to a coup or revolution though, just peaceful transfer to the 2nd person in line. That seems like a vote for stability
    - davidgay 7y ago
18pfsmt 7y ago
There is no country on the planet that stands for individual freedom more than the US; we were founded on the idea. The idea that Canada has stronger free speech protection is laughable. There is zero chance this idea goes anywhere. Look at the sources for the article, that should give some indication of its credibility.
- ergothus 7y ago
  > There is no country on the planet that stands for individual freedom more than the US; we were founded on the idea There's a lot packed into that statement. Without switching into an off-topic discussion, I'd suggest that it's a lot like GPL vs BSD licenses - there's more than one way to define "freedom", and one can focus on results vs options, on groups vs individuals, etc.
  - 18pfsmt 7y ago
    >there's more than one way to define "freedom" Only to people with an agenda. This garbage way of redefining words to suit your predetermined policy goals is ridiculous. My comment is severely DVd but nobody supplied an example of a more free country. All tech companies are HQd in the US for a reason. Stable private property protection and individual freedom is most prominent in the US. The collectivists lost the argument that had been ongoing since the 1920s when the USSR fell, and some folks want to have this argument again (even when they already lost). How many times is Europe going to fine big tech for exercising their natural rights? We need at least one country with minimal rules in the world.
- stirfrykitty 7y ago
  While what you say is true, OpenBSD is merely based in Canada by dint of Theo de Raadt residing there and being the project lead. Being that open source is more or less borderless, even if he were told to beg off developing crypto, the code is out there. Ditto every other open source crypto project. The beauty of open source is that it can be inspected. Pandora's Box and all that... If people want to communicate using encryption, they will do so. Maybe not with today's algorithms and implementations, but they will continue on. OTPs, new algorithms, hiding stuff in plain sight, etc. I think steganography is too obvious and too easily discovered.
nickpsecurity 7y ago
Canada is part of Five Eyes with close cooperation with NSA. They probably won't bother anyone unless their software is blocker they encounter when gathering intelligence or maybe something with lots of press. Whatever happened with the Cryptocat dude, if true, might be an example: https://www.theverge.com/2013/2/10/3972272/cryptocat-spies-and-nuclear-bunkers https://www.theverge.com/2013/2/10/3972272/cryptocat-spies-a...
chrisweekly 7y ago
Cryptonomicon -- 100% agreed. Further, it's an awesome story! Highly recommended.
jrochkind1 7y ago
So, there have been major strides lately in major, popular, widely-used, mass-market, easy-to-use messaging software greatly improving it's messaging security. The US government can totally easily reverse that trend. And it matters a lot.

wedn3sday 7y ago

My absolute favorite book of all time, Neal Stephenson is an international treasure.

stirfrykitty 7y ago
Ditto on favorite. The man has the knack and the knowledge to put out some fantastic stories. I've often wondered why no one has picked up Crytonomicon for a film. I think with the right directors and actors, the movie would be fantastic. I envision a full 3-hour film (it would almost have to be).
- komali2 7y ago
  Neal Stephenson says it's because his books are too long. Although, allegedly, Amazon is making Snow Crash into a miniseries, and again allegedly, Tom Howard is directing a Seveneves movie. Weird, that, because I didn't think Seveneves was "finished." All that just to set the stage for Elves, Dwarves, and Man, but no followup stories of Elves, Dwarves, and Man? Weird.
  - stirfrykitty 7y ago
    Snow Crash would be the only other book that I could see as a film, although Reamde might do well, too.
    - hprotagonist 7y ago
      nah ;)
    - Yetanfou 7y ago
      Anathem [1] is another book which could be turned into a script for a movie or series. It has a host of colourful characters, scenery varying from something resembling a medieval abbey to space ships, a fairly linear plot line and enough action to keep a modern audience from reaching for their mobile comfort devices. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem
  - MrMember 7y ago
    I think Seveneves could work as a movie, and actually be good. I don't know how they'd handle the story "transition" though.
    - JetSpiegel 7y ago
      Please split it in two. There's enough plot to go around in the present, no need to contaminate with the future stuff. A single post-credits scene as a teaser for the second film is acceptable.

bayareanative 7y ago

Remember that stable democracies always have the potential become authoritarian dictatorships. History is littered with examples: France, Germany, Japan, Chile, Turkey and to a lesser extent, the authoritarian strongmen who were elected in the US, India, Brazil, Venezuela and many more.

99052882514569 7y ago
>France, Germany, Japan, Chile, Turkey Not a single one of these was ever a stable democracy before becoming a dictatorship. Unless maybe you're referring to Vichy France, but that's more of an occupation.
- CapricornNoble 7y ago
  Turkey wasn't stable prior to Erdogan?
  - smilliken 7y ago
    It has a long repetitive history of violent transitions in power, including the last couple hundred years.
    - CapricornNoble 7y ago
      Turkish democracy is barely 100 years old. If we are looking at a timeline of ~200 years, even the US won't come across as particularly stable, what with the Civil War and multiple Presidential assassinations since 1819.
      - xref 7y ago
        None of those assassinations lead to a coup or revolution though, just peaceful transfer to the 2nd person in line. That seems like a vote for stability
  - davidgay 7y ago

18pfsmt 7y ago

There is no country on the planet that stands for individual freedom more than the US; we were founded on the idea. The idea that Canada has stronger free speech protection is laughable. There is zero chance this idea goes anywhere. Look at the sources for the article, that should give some indication of its credibility.

ergothus 7y ago
> There is no country on the planet that stands for individual freedom more than the US; we were founded on the idea There's a lot packed into that statement. Without switching into an off-topic discussion, I'd suggest that it's a lot like GPL vs BSD licenses - there's more than one way to define "freedom", and one can focus on results vs options, on groups vs individuals, etc.
- 18pfsmt 7y ago
  >there's more than one way to define "freedom" Only to people with an agenda. This garbage way of redefining words to suit your predetermined policy goals is ridiculous. My comment is severely DVd but nobody supplied an example of a more free country. All tech companies are HQd in the US for a reason. Stable private property protection and individual freedom is most prominent in the US. The collectivists lost the argument that had been ongoing since the 1920s when the USSR fell, and some folks want to have this argument again (even when they already lost). How many times is Europe going to fine big tech for exercising their natural rights? We need at least one country with minimal rules in the world.
stirfrykitty 7y ago
While what you say is true, OpenBSD is merely based in Canada by dint of Theo de Raadt residing there and being the project lead. Being that open source is more or less borderless, even if he were told to beg off developing crypto, the code is out there. Ditto every other open source crypto project. The beauty of open source is that it can be inspected. Pandora's Box and all that... If people want to communicate using encryption, they will do so. Maybe not with today's algorithms and implementations, but they will continue on. OTPs, new algorithms, hiding stuff in plain sight, etc. I think steganography is too obvious and too easily discovered.

nickpsecurity 7y ago

Canada is part of Five Eyes with close cooperation with NSA. They probably won't bother anyone unless their software is blocker they encounter when gathering intelligence or maybe something with lots of press. Whatever happened with the Cryptocat dude, if true, might be an example: https://www.theverge.com/2013/2/10/3972272/cryptocat-spies-and-nuclear-bunkers https://www.theverge.com/2013/2/10/3972272/cryptocat-spies-a...

chrisweekly 7y ago

Cryptonomicon -- 100% agreed. Further, it's an awesome story! Highly recommended.

jrochkind1 7y ago

So, there have been major strides lately in major, popular, widely-used, mass-market, easy-to-use messaging software greatly improving it's messaging security. The US government can totally easily reverse that trend. And it matters a lot.