Hello Louis!

15 Sep 99 21:15, Louis Aubree wrote to James Mckenzie:

 LA> Tobias Ernst replied to you :

 JM>>> AS A WORD OF NOTE:  IBM IS REQUIRED TO ENFORCE THE FRENCH LAW
 JM>>> WHICH REQUIRES YOU TO DOWNLOAD THE "INTERNATIONAL:FRANCE"
 JM>>> VERSION.

 TE>>
 TE>> What's behind that law? Why should a person from France be
 TE>> prohibited from downloading an international English or German
 TE>> or whatever version if he likes that language better?
 TE>>
 TE>> Or does the French version have even less crypotgraphy then
 TE>> the 40 bits for the rest of the world?

 LA> No, the French law doesn't rule the rest of the world. Even if some
 LA> highbrows there believe the Earth is flat with Paris right in the
 LA> middle... :-))

I'll agree with that statement.

 LA> No, the French law doesn't prohibit to download any cryptography
 LA> program from abroad. It used to prohibit to USE any crypting... Then,
 LA> in 1997, 40 bits keys were allowed. Now, the new rule is that 128
 LA> bits keys will be allowed. (Thanks to "Echelon"...).

Thanks for the clarification on the law.

 LA> But of course, we can't download (nor buy...) any U.S. product
 LA> including crypting with keys longer than 40 bits, not because of
 LA> French law, but because of U.S. law prohibiting such exports. Every
 LA> other country in the world (well, almost?) suffers the same U.S. law,
 LA> so Europe has its own companies specialized in crypting products.

Silly isn't it.  Try looking at www.fortify.com....

I guess the "crypto-police" forgot that PGP was available and uses up to a
4096 bit key in its latest version.

James

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