Re: Dr. Dobbs Cryptography and Security CD-ROM

[Bill Frantz <frantz@netcom.com>]

At 8:58 AM -0700 7/1/97, Peter Gutmann wrote:
>>Copyright laws will do nothing to prevent the text from being distributed.
>>All copyright laws will do is make you able to punish "offenders" after
>>the fact.  They have no mystical value to "protect" anything, especially
>>digital medium, which is easy to copy.
>
>What makes this case especially awkward is the fact that the CDROM can't
>legally be sold outside the US, which means the only way the rest of the
>world
>can get it is through illegal copies.  Given the immense usefulness of
>something like this, I'd say it's only a matter of time before bootleg copies
>start appearing outside the US, but because of the USG's position we can't
>pay
>for it even if we want to (DDJ wouldn't look too good if they accepted
>payment
>for what they knew was illegally exported crypto).  Perhaps a donation of the
>same amount to charity would serve as some equivalent to payment...

It might also be a nice gesture if the parts of the CDROM available outside
the US were not posted.


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