Do your part to keep open source safe

[beesond001 at hawaii.rr.com]

Aloha all,

	I was thinking today -- that is sometimes dangerous...  What if someone 
wrote a piece of software that mildly encrypted some electronic 
communications,  be it e-mail, web traffic, or whatever and then uses 
this software in the lawful pursuit of those three things we all hold 
near and dear as listed in the Declaration of Independence... life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ( 
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/declaration.html ). Let 
us now suppose that this piece of software is copyrighted by the author 
so that it becomes protected by the DMCA.  Now suppose the FBI, or some 
other law enforcement agency notices this encrypted traffic and does not 
know what it means, or that it is used in the lawful pursuit of life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and then decides to crack it.  

	Does the copyright owner now have grounds to sue that law enforcement 
agency for reverse engineering its software?  (Reverse engineering would 
be functionally equivalent to cracking the algorithm.) Would a foreign 
nation have grounds to sue the US if they discovered their encrypted 
communications had been cracked?

	I don't know, I was just wondering if we have not already dug our own 
grave on this one and we just don't realize it....

Cheers,

Ben 


   

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

On 7/31/01, 9:43:20 AM, Jeff Mings <jeffm at lava.net> wrote regarding [luau] 
Do your part to keep open source safe:


> One of the horrible problems with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act is 
that
> it can criminalize reverse-engineering software to create open-source
> versions.  It also criminalizes many common security and privacy checks.

> Take 10 seconds now to add your signature to the fight against the DMCA 
at
> http://www.dibona.com/dmca/ .  You'll also find more indicting info there
> about this wretched piece of legislation.


> -Jeff Mings

> ---
> You are currently subscribed to luau as: beesond001 at hawaii.rr.com
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