Subject: Re: US crypto laws and NetBSD
To: None <W.Scheffbuch@ieee.org>
From: Antti Kantee <pooka@iki.fi>
List: tech-crypto
Date: 02/11/2000 00:22:31
On Thu Feb 10 2000 at 20:54:49 +0100, W.Scheffbuch@ieee.org wrote:

> > > The core team's consensus decision on how NetBSD should react in
> > > light of the apparently changed crypto laws is as follows:
> > > 
> > > * Merge any salient code from crypto-us into crypto-intl, and maintain
> > >   one code base for crypto, in a repository which is off-shore from USA.
> > >   Deprecate crypto-us.
> > > 
> > > Please direct debate on crypto issues:	  <tech-crypto@netbsd.org>
> > > Questions regarding the Project's stance: <core@netbsd.org>
> 
> > > After legal revisions from december 1998, you should not only make
> > > sure that the repository resides outside of the US, but also outside
> > > of the states governed by the security decision of NATO and some
> > > other states.
> 
> If I remember right, the keyword is "Warsenaar Agreement", if you've
> the time to do some own investigation. The new US crypto jurisdiction
> should just be the US administrations interpretation of that agree -
> ment. The french government is much more restrictive. And the german
> administrations interpretation has been more liberal.

Actually it's the ``Wassenaar Agreement'', available at
http://www.wassenaar.org

Finland has also signed this treaty, and but all the links I can find
are encrypted behing legal talk and crap like that (and besides they
mostly just talk about weapons of mass destruction, I think we can't
list NetBSD as one, or can we? ;).  Still, IIRC, the Wassenaar Agreement
didn't include free software for some odd reason. (please correct me if
I'm wrong)

-- 
Antti Kantee <pooka@iki.fi>