Re: Fw: Re: DANTE CERT Service
- Date: Fri, 16 Dec 94 18:27:18 +0100
On Dec 16, 16:26, Piet Beertema wrote:
> Subject: Re: Fw: Re: DANTE CERT Service
> Are you kidding? Involving police/government might well become
> counterproductive, since their ideas about (computer) security
> are often a bit strange, to put it mildly. A clear case is the
> proposal recently by the Dutch government for making encryption
> effectively illegal; needless to say that this led to a storm
> of protest and eventually to the withdrawal of the proposal;
> and to the even more rapid spreading of PGP....
Sigh. Here in France, encryption devices (including software)
are considered as "armes de guerre" -- weapons of war. It is
a bit difficult to imagine a division of soldiers invading any
country carrying encrypt(1) on diskettes, but nonetheless the
requirements for possessing and using encryption mechanisms are
the same as for a 7.62mm rifle.
(It's also difficult to imagine an army being immobilized because
their bicycles were confiscated, but that's another story ;-)
War, and the mentality that comes with it, is often opposed to
reason.
Anyway, let's *not* involve the "authorities" in the CERT --
they are often reactionary.
-Philip
