Re: Let's Say "No!" to Single, World Versions of Software

[shamrock@netcom.com (Lucky Green)]

At 3:02 7/31/96, Timothy C. May wrote:

>This point has been raised by us many times. And, to be fair, this point is
>not lost on the NSA/Freeh/Denning/Gorelick crowd, I am sure. That is, they
>would not countenance the importation into the U.S. of "Iraq-GAKked" and
>"China-GAKked" programs, for example.
>
>So, what's the deal? The resolution of this quandary almost certainly lies
>in an "international agreement," along the lines of the various key escrow
>meetings which have been held (Karlsruhe in '93, Washington in '94, etc.).
>A "New World Order" solution, with complicated reciprocal agreements about
>whom the trusted key authorities might be, how nations could gain access,
>etc. (These relationships are too complicated for my brain to handle...how,
>for example, would one come to an agreement with Libya? What about Cuba,
>given that many of our nominal allies trade freely with Cuba and chafe when
>we try to get them to join our boycotts?)

I don't see a global agreement on GAK happening anytime soon. But that
doesn't mean that a less ambitious agreement can't be reached. Perhaps it
will come out of OECD, perhaps it will be limited to G-7. We will see an
agreement on GAK amongst the major players, with the exception of Japan.
After all, the players are faced with the same dilemma: how to best control
the behavior of their citizens.



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