@boomzilla said:
@Coyne said:The investigation of PGP creator Phil Zimmerman when miraculously (after he published the source of his program in a 60-page book) an interoperative PGP program was built in Europe. Too dumb to understand how a lowly source code book could allow Europeans to build an interoperative version, the TLA's were absolutely certain Mr. Zimmerman had exported his program and its strong encryption illegally and investigated the daylights out of him. (see the "Criminal investigation" section of Pretty Good Privacy. It not only discusses the investigation of Zimmerman, but also mentions some of the "munitions" issues.)I'm sure they understood how the book could have enabled it. However, they were also knowledgeable enough about the law to know that they couldn't prosecute him for it, so they looked for another way. Obviously, tilting at windmills, but I do wonder about foreign powers' encryption capabilities, and how much they were able to stunt their maturation. I could easily imagine foreign security / espionage organizations resisting the adoption of cutting edge technologies in favor of home grown schemes that were easier to break.
Sheesh. Use some imagination.
You think these people have imagination? LOL
Like most major technologies, cryptography is a capability widely distributed; understood by many mathematicians worldwide. And for a long time: Look at the effort the allies expended breaking Enigma, which was created by the Germans. Some of our latest best cryptosystems have come from outside the U. S.
So it's not like banning the sale of hardware, which might have some effect: The export ban always was dumb, from the beginning.