At 7:21pm Apr 5, 2000, Richard Levitte - VMS Whacker wrote:
> Apparently, today, the 6th circuit federal court has ruled that source
> code (crypto-source included, since that's the actual issue) is free
> speech and therefore protected by the First Ammendment.
> 1) Is there anything above Federal or Supreme court, or have this
> lawsuit (that's what I understand is the legal term for this
> action) finally reached the end.
The US Supreme Court is above the 6th circuit court of appeals. The US
Supreme Court is the last place a party can appeal a legal ruling, though
the Supreme Court can refuse to hear appeals.
> 2) Where does that leave OpenSSL regarding getting US-originated
> source?
First, this ruling did not even settle the immediate case; the issue has
to be argued again in the district court (the circuit court of appeals
hears appeals for decisions made in the district courts). Also, residents
of jurisdictions that are served by the 6th circuit court of appeals are
the only ones to whom this decision applies. While other US jurisdictions
may follow the 6th's lead, they don't have to. Ultimately this would need
to be decided in each jurisdiction, or decidded in the US Supreme Court,
to make the decision applicable accross the US.
> If I understand correctly, if this ruling is hammered through (no pun
> intended), we can gladly say bye-bye to any regulation as long as we
> deal with source code and point at the First Ammendment instead...
First amendment free speech rights are not absolute. What happens now is
the parties have to argue whether this type of speech should be allowed.
The fact that it's classified as speech puts burden on the US Govt to
prove why the speech should be restricted, but the USG may still prevail.
While this ruling is encouraging, it ain't over yet.
-Peter (who is not a lawyer)
http://www.bastille-linux.org/ : working towards more secure Linux systems
______________________________________________________________________
OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org
Development Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Automated List Manager [EMAIL PROTECTED]
