http://www.itsecurity.com/papers/anderson1.htm Extract During the late 1990s, arms export regulations prevented US nationals making cryptographic software available on their web pages, or sending it abroad by email. Phil Zimmermann, the author of the popular PGP encryption program, was investigated by a Grand Jury for letting it `escape' to the Internet. The law was ridiculed by students wearing T-shirts printed with encryption source code (`Warning - this T-shirt is a munition!') and challenged in the courts as an affront to free speech. Meanwhile, European engineers made crypto software freely available. From Free Speech Online and Offline Article arguing that 'toxic overspill from attempts to regulate the Internet' is producing laws that 'restrict traditional offline freedoms', particularly in the UK and US ( Ross Anderson via ITsecurity.com ) See also this blog entry from last month At http://www.hullocentral.demon.co.uk/site/anfin.htm Where Show us the money 'Britain is the biggest protector and nurturer of tax havens. Most are UK crown dependencies. Until the recent pressure from the OECD, the government has done little to reform them. On the domestic front, the government can levy taxes on the rich by estimating the income needed to maintain their lavish lifestyle. It can base corporate taxes on the estimated level of economic activity and market share enjoyed by corporations. It can refuse to provide government contracts to companies which abdicate their social responsibilities. It can abolish the farce of non-domiciled and non-resident tax status. But the major corporations have bought out the political system. The political will to tackle this major social abuse is missing. How long will ordinary, hard-working people continue to pay ever-rising taxes to indulge the selfish games of a rich elite?' ( Prem Sikka via Guardian ) See also this blog entry from yesterday
