DES export regulations. And what to do about it!

[John F Haugh II]

In article <1991Jan5.022309.19716 at NCoast.ORG> allbery at ncoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) writes:
>The rest of your message continues the implication that it's all a plot to
>make privacy illegal.

You could read it that way, however the government's actions clearly do
limit the amount of privacy which two citizens of different countries
may have.

>That isn't the intent.  Despite the fact that it's all for nought, the U.S.
>government is worried about hostile foreign powers violating *its own* privacy
>by decrypting its DES-encypted data.  Considering that anyone who wants to
>type in code from Andrew S. Tanenbaum's COMPUTER NETWORKS can bring up DES,
>this is a bit silly, but nonetheless your assumption that it's Big Brother
>out to get us is equally silly.

The point that the algorithm is public knowlege should be stressed as the
reason to legalize exporting software DES technology.  Hardware DES
technology exports should be extended to include "friendly" countries,
just as supercomputer technology exports are limited.  As others have
pointed out, hardware DES should continue to be restricted from export
to potentially hostile countries.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
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