LYNX-DEV SSL, Lynx & US Law

[Philip Webb]

Some hard-working & responsible person said 961207:
> 
> What we recently worked out to say in the FAQ on this point is:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    US Export laws and regulations introduce impediments to the inclusion
>    of security support in the general distributions of a freeware WWW
>    client such as Lynx.
>    
>    [1]Tom Zerucha <address@hidden> has two ways to add SSL capability to
>    your Lynx installation, as Lynx patches or via a proxy.  He says:
>    
>      For now, If someone [2]emails me stating they are a US or Canadian
>      citizen in the US or Canada, and promises not to redistribute it, I
>      will send them the source to my proxy or the patches.  A PGP key is
>      preferred, though the request itself need not be encrypted.
>      
>      The only reason I am asking for a promise not to redistribute (and
>      not even making it a licensing term) is that they may be illegal
>      under ITAR.  What I should say (and actually intend) is distribute
>      at your own risk, but I can't :).  I couldn't suggest to people
>      that they should drive over 55 until this year either.
>      
>      Theoretically the code to either the proxy or the patches is
>      protected as free speech under the first amendment, and the
>      prohibition of "hooks" is too vague to stand up in court.  The code
>      contains no actual crypto, only "hooks" to something that does.
>      
>      I am not a lawyer; this is my layman's understanding of the
>      situation.  Ask a real lawyer for a real opinion.
>  [etc]    

As a Canadian with the usual mixed feelings re the US system of govt,
may I throw in my (smaller Cdn) 10 cents worth.

I've never heard of any Canadian law prohibiting use/export of any level
of encryption.  Obviously US Law has no application north of the border.
So if the US Govt allows export of hi-level encryption products to Canada
it has left a gaping hole in its legislation thro' which one can drive
any number of e-trucks.  NOTHING in ANY US laws has ANY force in Canada,
even if some Canadian diplomat/minister has made friendly noises
(which they haven't as far as I know).

So it's surely very simple: EITHER the US Govt allows export to Canada
-- when their encryption laws are for all practical purposes useless --
OR it doesn't allow export to Canada -- when Mr Zerucha could still get
entangled in Clinton's barbed-wire fence.

We trade freely with Cuba; there's a billboard not 200 metres from here
inviting tourists to go there; some of us are actually proud of the fact
that Canada has never broken normal relations with Cuba; we'ld be insulted
by the Helms-Burton Act, if we didn't see it as a sick joke.  As Canada
& the EU will be arguing at the WTO, US laws stop at the US borders,
however difficult some Americans find it to accept that fact.

I know it's a different Act & I have been following the news stories,
but isn't the whole Lynx-Encryption fuss an exercise in paranoia?
-- 
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