Criminalisation of security tools

[nicolas.ruff at gmail.com (Nicolas RUFF)]

> "The new Act will make a person guilty of an offence 'if he supplies or
> offers to supply any article believing that it is likely to be used to
> commit, or to assist in the commission of, [a hacking offence]'. The word
> 'article' is defined in the Act to include 'any program or data held in
> electronic form'. Some software tools commonly used by IT security
> professionals can also be used for malicious purposes, making the new
> legislation a cause for concern. This applies particularly to dual use tools
> like nmap..."

Nearly the same wording in France ... it is called "LCEN" (Loi pour la
Confiance dans l'Economie Num?rique ~ Law for Confidence in Net Economy :)

http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/telecoms/0,39040748,39148724,00.htm

The bill has been passed in 2004, and indeed at least one French guy
named "m0rtix" has been indicted for creating backdoors.

http://www.01net.com/editorial/338943/

This backdoor has been found "in the wild" on more than 6,000
compromised servers :)

Regards,
- Nicolas RUFF