🚀 go-pugleaf

Vesselin posts a long message, which contains a misstatement of fact and
a number of claims. Let me treat the first, and then see if I can
cut through the second.

I don't argue the law and then if that doesn't work, argue ethics.
Vesselin cannot have been reading my posts very carefully if
he thinks so.

In the U.S., I argue the law, since the issue is patents and that RSA
has one, and that the Munitions act covers imports as well as exports.

In Europe, where I have never argued RSA's patents apply, and I have
never argued the U.S. Munitions laws apply, I argue the ethics of
taking an invention without compensation.  Like most such discussions
here, these arguments have evolved as we learn from each other. That
argument also applies in the U.S.

It's not a fallback position, but two separate sets of arguments for
two separate situations--the one in Europe and the one in the U.S.

Now let me try to cut through a lot of what seems to me to be
posturing and rationalization about the legality of PGP in Europe. By
starting a separate topic, I asked the public question about Munitions
and crypto laws in European countries, and everybody who was so
vociferous about their "rights" to use PGP there immediately fell
silent.  However, I received several e-mail responses from those who
hadn't participated so far, pointing out, with details, that the
crypto and munitions laws in most European countries (maybe not
Finland or Bulgaria--dunno) are much more stringent than in the U.S.
(We may never find out about the crypto laws in Finland, since Jyrki
says he's put me on his kill list.)

Thus I suggest for Vesselin's (and others') consideration that they
may be violating the laws of the countries they are in by using PGP
without (for example) getting permission from the appropriate
Minister, as in France. If true, that would make all the posturing
about how the U.S. Munitions laws don't apply to Europe and hence PGP
is o.k. completely bogus.

In the case of Vesselin, specifically, I suggest he check out
the German crypto and Munitions laws, since that's where he
apparently has PGP on a computer. If he's planning to use it
in Bulgaria, he may also wish to check out those laws.

David