FC: Is this man a crypto-criminal? The Feds won't say...

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33672,00.html

                       Is This Man a Crypto Criminal?
                       by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                       3:00 a.m. 15.Jan.2000 PST
                       Crypto maven John Young has a problem.

                       He may be a felon, guilty of a federal
                       crime punishable by years in prison. Or he
                       may not be. He'd just like to know one
                       way or another.

                       The 63-year-old architect and owner of
                       the popular Cryptome site has posted a
                       copy of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)
                       encryption software for the world to
                       download.

                       Young's seemingly innocuous act might
                       violate new US government regulations
                       that restrict placing privacy-protecting
                       crypto programs on the Web. Therein lies
                       the uncertainty. The rules are much less
                       onerous than the previous version, but
                       they still apply.

                       "The fact that questions still remain
                       about what does and does not violate the
                       law demonstrates that these regulations
                       continue to cloud the situation," said
                       David Sobel, general counsel of the
                       Electronic Privacy Information Center.

                       So Young decided to be intrepid -- and
                       perhaps risk a confrontation with the
                       Feds.

                       "If it's not right, someone will tell me. If I
                       go to a lawyer to ask, they'll advise
                       caution. Every time I go to a lawyer they
                       advise me not to do it, so I don't go any
                       more," he said.

                       The Department of Commerce, which
                       published the regulations and is in charge
                       of arresting crypto-miscreants, declined
                       to comment. Eugene Cottilli, a spokesman
                       for Commerce's bureau of export
                       administration, could not secure an
                       official response from government lawyers
                       on Friday.

                       [...]


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