On Sep 29, 7:57 pm, Unruh <unruh-s...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> mike3 <mike4...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> >Hi.
> >Consider the following scenario. You sell someone a piece of strong
> >encryption software. In this scenario, both you and the recipient are
> >in the USA. But then that guy goes and ex****ts the software from the
> >USA overseas. If his ex****t was illegal, can YOU be held liable, even
> >if you had no intention of illegal ex****t?
>
> No, unless they could show that you intended or knew he was going to do
> that when you gave/sold him the crypto. In criminal law, intent is
critical
> to the case. Ie, you have to have intended the criminal action.
>
In this scenario, one was not giving out the software so someone would
ex****t it.
> >Is this what happened with Phillip Zimmermann & PGP? What would happen
> >in such a situation these days, as I've heard the laws are different
> >now than they were back then?
>
> Phillip Zimmermann was never charged, never mind found guilty. It, I
believe,
> was argued that he both knew and was complicit in the ex****t, but that
> arguement never carried enough weight even to produce an indictment,
never
> mind a trial. Nor was the person who actually posted it ever indicted
> AFAIK.
>
> The laws are different. But illegal ex****t of crypto still carries huge
> penalties. What is illegal is now different however. Thus, if you create
> public open source crypto which you distribute for free, there are
> essentially no restrictions, except that you must re****t it.
But can one still get slammed with those penalties even for an ex****t
that someone else did, even if one had no intent on ex****ting? What
happens with code that is *not* distributed for free, but which you
also do *not* ex****t yourself -- in fact you actively refuse to sell
it outside the country at all? But your *end user* ex****ts it?
> However do not
> rely on legal advice you get from the net (and my comments are not legal
> advice).
What about from non-net sources that are accessible to those
without a large income?
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