EE Times on PRZ

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

The Jan 16 issue of EE Times has an excellent article on the legal
controversy surrounding Phil Zimmermann and PGP, positioned top-right
front-cover for maximal exposure.  It describes the aftermath of a
meeting last week between Phil's attorney, Philip Dubois, and the
government lawyer handling the case.  "'We told the prosecutor our
concerns,' Dubois said.  'He agreed to consider them.  We might hear
back in a month or two.  He didn't make any promises.'"

(Sometimes it seems like the gov't is dragging this case out
intentionally.  I believe the uncertainty does have a chilling effect on
private development of strong crypto, which would be gone if the
government announced it was not going to pursue the case, or if they did
bring charges and lost.)

Another interesting quote: "Zimmermann is not in danger of being indicted
for willfully exporting PGP. Rather, the U.S. attorney's office, here, is
considering charging him for making PGP available in such a manner that
it could be exported by a third party."  What the hell is this?  Can
anyone point to the statute they may be referring to here?  This seems
awfully broad.

This, from a sidebar, is really surprising:  "In contrast, public keys
allow the overt publication of an encryption key, because decryption keys
can only be derived through a mathematically difficult process, such as
large prime-number factoring.  Contrary to popular belief, the NSA can
decrypt public keys of most practical key sizes."  I wonder what this
means?  If it is a claim that the NSA can factor 1024 bit moduli that
would certainly come as a big surprise.  If they are saying that they can
do 512 bits that would be more believable although of interest.  It is
strange that the author would include a statement like this without
attribution or evidence.

Generally, the article is very favorable towards Phil and an excellent
overview of the case.

Hal

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6

iQBVAwUBLxytnBnMLJtOy9MBAQHGnAH/TAOr6TNchZjCyMESeDdOf1seXTkfMbMY
3qrL91OmjwxDIBDkzszrgizwadKwWYn65yOY3yJ4Wk/xUcNwKFnk1Q==
=PoYj
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Hal wrote about the PRZ case:

> (Sometimes it seems like the gov't is dragging this case out
> intentionally.  I believe the uncertainty does have a chilling effect on
> private development of strong crypto, which would be gone if the
> government announced it was not going to pursue the case, or if they did
> bring charges and lost.)

I've been slogging through a book on Dr. Gerald Bull, the semi-notorious
gun designer who was assassinated by parties unknown in the midst of
helping the Iraqis build several superguns.

In the late '70s, Bull was prosecuted and spent 4 months at the
Allentown pen for ITAR violations.  His company exported "technical
data," shell blanks, and various equipment useful for designing &
building howitzers to South Africa. The prosecuting US Attorney took
more than two years from original indictment to the actual trial. It
seems that the same mechanism is at work here.

Incidentally, Bull had at least made some effort to check with the
Office of Munitions Control about the legality of his exports; a
letter he received from them seemed to say that his planned exports
were legal.  The judge citec OMC's screwup as a factor affecting the
length of sentence.

- -Paul

- -- 
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG       | Good software engineering doesn't reduce the 
perobich@ingr.com            | amount of work you put into a product; it just 
Not speaking for Intergraph. | redistributes it differently.
                  ### http://www.intergraph.com ###

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBLx/UqKfb4pLe9tolAQHCxAP+OqnmoK/Eri0mNPnd3voMP+8YfpszVwFl
pCPntLHhL9TRYckhM+o504pJeBj2STc+aaIT5PTnCjd6aniGJy2QYgqYxALExbw9
EaM7fQXlwCqSS2u04/UzGmkmjgWqtUdAacu+C2gj+N61Aaay0ReR+DJBtP7rLypi
w3l74NhHFDA=
=fRtk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

- From the node of Hal:
: 
: Another interesting quote: "Zimmermann is not in danger of being indicted
: for willfully exporting PGP. Rather, the U.S. attorney's office, here, is
: considering charging him for making PGP available in such a manner that
: it could be exported by a third party."  What the hell is this?  Can
: anyone point to the statute they may be referring to here?  This seems
: awfully broad.
: 

In a related story:
The U.S. attourney's office is also considering charging GM, Ford, and 
Chrysler for making automobiles available in such a manner that people 
could run someone over and leave the scene of the accident.

:)

- -----
Doc					      doc@phobos.lib.iup.edu
aka Mark Rogaski			      http://www.lib.iup.edu/~rogaski/

Disclaimer:  You would probably be hard-pressed to find ANYONE who agrees
             	with me, much less my university or employer...

   [finger fllevta@oak.grove.iup.edu for PGP Public Key and Geek Code v2.1]


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBLxyzuh0c4/pqJauBAQEDtQP9FBsK/nzSgr4D4B/WjhYJRMlc43B4T0Cp
eSxmp+r/xN2yYkvnJS7hTnqRXKR6BO/cWYHxaoiiZ9yfF+duDxpnIOAUfu9k8+OG
EBJErsLRKi1x/V9JK8hbK+Qcj/+LU6vrNKPAyQ/8cDdLt+Pz0tdCeKhtKcQ9n9jb
WGvbzybIOBs=
=Bfj7
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----