Crytography laws around the world (what are they?)

[soma56]

If anyone has or knows any laws pertaining to Cryptography around the world (in any country) or has any stories in the same regard I would appreciate your insight. There are some questions I hope that might be anwsered:

What was the first known law concerning Cryptography?

Are there any famous cases that have set precedent with respect to Cryptography?

What laws should be in place to protect (or expose) Cryptography?

If there is anything you wish to add, please do so.

[soma56]

Wow. I imagined that Cryptography would be more of a hot topic.

[MrLinus]

I imagined that Cryptography would be more of a hot topic.

Why?

What was the first known law concerning Cryptography?

Are there any famous cases that have set precedent with respect to Cryptography?

What laws should be in place to protect (or expose) Cryptography?

A lot of this is searchable via Google (with the exception of the first -- Don't think I've ever heard of which law was specifically the first).

Possibly the most famous however is the export limitations, where PGP was considered a weapon and couldn't be released outside the US.

[SirDice]

What was the first known law concerning Cryptography?

First one? Not sure but my guess would be the US. They still consider cryptography a weapon.

Are there any famous cases that have set precedent with respect to Cryptography?

IIRC there was a professor that designed a new encryption algorithme. He published it on his website and got busted by the ATF. He won the lawsuit because he only posted the source code. Source code was considered freedom of speech (first amendment).

What laws should be in place to protect (or expose) Cryptography?

Privacy would be a good place to start


As for not getting fast (enough) responces, please note the different timezones we all live in and the fact that not everyone reads AO on a daily basis.

[MrLinus]

IIRC there was a professor that designed a new encryption algorithme. He published it on his website and got busted by the ATF. He won the lawsuite because he only posted the source code. Source code was considered freedom of speech (first amendment).

Are you thinking of Zimmerman in 1993? Or was this prior to then?

[SirDice]

Sounds very familiar indeed

[jinxy]

Some interesting articles here: http://www.swarb.co.uk/lawb/cpuEncNews.shtml

From the uks perspective.

[soma56]

Thanks! Not bad information so far.

[Scarface212]

Hey SirDice is source code still considered "freedom of speech"?

Also check out this site. http://www.cs.rit.edu/~kcl8605/cryptopaper.html

"One of the earliest efforts to restrict cryptography was the Clipper Initiative. This initiative, formally named the Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES), was announced in 1993 by the Clinton Administration" (Ken Lynch )

Its a long read but it should explain everything.

[soma56]

I found out that it is illegal to have an encryption strength more than 128bits (to be sent out of the country). This is due to the U.S. government export policy, which I presume has something to do with National defense.

Zimmerman (Pretty Good Privacy) was approached by the FBI in 1991 for software that he created which encrypted information. Apparently it was placed on the net and distributed throughout other countries (via the net by other people) resulting in his legal battle with the U.S. government.

From what I understand it was raised to 128bits from 40bits in 1999.