[plug] Any legal restrictions on cryptography use / importation in Aus?

[Sol]

There are laws in the US that make the import or export of certain 
cryptographic software (notably software that the US NSA, FBI & CIA 
don't have the ability or privilege to crack). That's why in the Debian 
software mirror tree there is a "non-US" section which includes things 
like pgp and ssh. I believe though, that it's not actually illegal for a 
US citizen to use this software inside the US - ironically.  There was a 
seminal case in the US when the Govt on behalf of the FBI tried to 
outlaw PGP and failed - mostly. But the details of this are sketchy in 
my mind now.

"Continuing the assault, both the Bush and Clinto adminstrations waged 
an all-out war against the rights of  computer users to engage in 
private and secure communications. Starting in 1991, both 
administrations flaoted proposals for use of "Clipper" encrypted 
personal communications/President Clinton also backed the Communications 
Decency Act (CDA), which made it a crime to transcit sexually explicity 
information to minors - and, as a result, might have required Internet 
providers to deploy far-reaching monitoring and censorship systems. When 
a court in Philedelphia found the CDA unconstitutional, the Clinto 
administration appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court  - 
and lost.
    "Finally, the US government's restrictions on the export of 
encryption technology have effectively restrained the widespread use of 
this technology for personal privacy protection within the United States."

from "Database Nation" by Simson Garfinkel, O'Reilly & Associates, 2000

There's more in this book about efforts to curb such things as 
encryption, but if you're that interested you can buy the book (or 
borrow it from a library). Garfinkel has also written a book called 
"PGP: Pretty Good Privacy". I dare say that you'd find plenty more info 
about the court cases in the US on the PGP site.

Whilst I would hardly consider the Australian Govt "liberal" on such 
matters, their staggering ignorance of information technology issues in 
general has meant that they haven't thought up laws to curb it citizens 
from engaging in electronic communication in private. Or so I believe.

Sol

Daniel wrote:

> Hello All,
> someone from Germany was talking about Linux Distros - said they 
> thought there might be restrictions in Australia on the level of 
> cryptography we can use, and hence we might not be allowed to use some 
> versions here. [ssl gpg pgp ....]
>
> I always thought it was the other way - that countries like the US 
> restricted the export of some cryptography, and that Australia did not 
> restrict the import or use of cryptography.  Who is right on this one 
> please?
>
> Thanks very much,
> Daniel.
>
>
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