RE: JAP back doored

["Drew Copley" <dcopley () eeye com>]

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Florian Weimer [mailto:fw () deneb enyo de] 
> Sent: Friday, August 22, 2003 12:35 PM
> To: Drew Copley
> Cc: full-disclosure () lists netsys com
> Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] JAP back doored
>
>
> "Drew Copley" <dcopley () eeye com> writes:
>
> > If the US forces developers to trojanize their applications,
>
> Like everywhere else, ISPs are forced to install wiretapping 
> equipment, which is basically the same.

In the US, criminals - not citizens - may be wiretapped at the ISP level. As far as I recall, they are generally tapped 
at the system level. That way they don't have to worry about - for instance - PGP passwords. But, in the US, even 
criminals have rights against their non-criminal activity being wiretapped. Tappers have to turn their wires off when 
they discuss non-criminal activity for a set amount of minutes.

Recourse against these kinds of things may found in popular cryptographic and anonymizing software. But, this recourse 
is now a dead end if it comes from Germany. 

Again, I am not bashing Germany, nor Germans. I just disagree that States should be able to trojanize applications and 
force the developers to keep silent about this. I do not care if it is Germany doing this or Romania. Who is the 
culpable party is unimportant.

If certain members of the US government felt this kind of activity was okay, I would be opposed to this. There is no 
shame in being critical of one's own government, nor of anyone else's... As long as that criticism is based on fact and 
inspired by pure motives.

Lastly, if this was not clear, innocent citizens are not criminals. Innocent citizens should not be tapped. In some 
nations they are allowed to be tapped. This is not the case in the US. 








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