On Mon, Sep 09, 2002, Tzafrir Cohen wrote about "[OT] proposed israeli laws regarding
internet and encryption":
> The legitlators accept the position of the Security Forces according to
> which "limiting the use of encryption and limiting the distribution of
> sophisticated security systems will help the defense organizations to
> intercept messages containing information that can lead to to the
> circumvention of terrorist acts. On the other hand, giving encryption
>...
> Anybody else senses here a cheap use of the terror (in greek: fear)
> threat?
Years ago, American legislators were worried about "criminals" (see for
example the Clipper Chip fiasco) and used that as an excuse [1] to harras
and limit the freedoms of law-abiding citizens. Now they can brand their
anti-freedom laws as patriotic, because they are against "terrorists".
> And what about technologies that are already available to the public (e.g:
> the american legislation regarding open-source (?) encryption
> technologies)?
Note that there's a difference between allowing export or importing some
encryption technology, and allowing actually using it. If you somehow manage
to get yourself a gun, does that mean you're allowed to use it? Of course
not! Similarly the fact that some encryption software is easily obtainable
(as open source, Internet Explorer, encryption hardwer, or whatever) does
not mean that it can be legally used in Israel.
Last time I checked, Israel has some sort of law called "chok hatsofen",
that limits not only the export of encryption software (like the American
ITAR or EAR), but also the actual use of encryption. If I remember correctly
it forbids *any* sort of encryption, unless otherwise exempted in the law,
with exemptions given to very-low-grade encryption and to specific software
(e.g., I think Internet Explorer and Netscape were listed).
This "chok hatsofen" actually affects (or at least affected, I don't know
if it has changed since) Israeli citizens, unfortunately. A few years ago,
a system administrator I know disabled one of the encryption algorithms in
SSH on his system (a system used by hundreds of users) because he found it
was technically illegal in Israel.
[1] Off-topic footnote:
The United States constitution has gone to great lengths to protect
citizens from being harrassed by the government's law-enforcement
agencies. From their experience with British soldiers, the founding
fathers knew that "absolute power corrupts absolutely", i.e., given
absolute power over the citizens these agencies will start applying it
arbitrarily for less-than-kosher purposes.
These citizens' rights were written in the Bill of Rights, the first
10 amendments to the US constitution. The first amendment gave the
citizens the rights of free speech and free assembly. The second
amendment allowed citizens to carry guns (this amendment is still very
controversial). The third amendment prevented the military from taking
over your house. The fourth amendment prevented the police from
searching your property without probably cause and a warrent. The rest
of the bill of rights deals with the criminal prosecution process and
punishment.
Therefore in the US, it has been almost a "religion" that the police
(or FBI, DEA, ATF, or whatever) should not have absolute power to track
citizens, even given the dangers of "crime". But the conviction in these
truths have dangerously deteriorated in the last decades, until now they
found the perfect ruse to destroy the constitution: terrorism.
--
Nadav Har'El | Monday, Sep 9 2002, 3 Tishri 5763
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |Learn from mistakes of others; you won't
http://nadav.harel.org.il |live long enough to make them all yourself
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