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Re[4]: use of RSA outside US



On Mon, 03 Apr 95 at 10:14:00 eet, "Hannula Antti"
<ahannula@ncsmsg01he.ntc.nokia.com> inquired:
> Concerning banning the cryptography over public access frequencies,
> in which other countries is that forbidden than in UK and France?
>
> Antti Hannula

Good question.  When I checked with a friend who cannot be attributed,
I obtained the following negative information: The countries where, as
of June 1994 (this changes so rapidly that a date stamp is required),
it was _technically_ possible (i.e., one may have had to buy a special
license or use a particular "blessed" flavor of crypto or register the
keys with the local gendarmes or even pay some cumshaw, but it _was_
possible) to use private cryptography for voice or data broadcast
(please note that that's "or", not "and") were as follows:

    Argentina      Finland        Israel         South Africa
    Australia      France         Japan          Spain
    Austria        Germany        Netherlands    Sweden
    Belgium        Hong Kong      New Zealand    Switzerland
    Canada         India          Norway         United Kingdom
    Denmark        Ireland        Russia         United States

This has the legal status of hearsay, but the _opinion_ I got was,
unless one is talking about a place where the local lawmakers cannot
even spell "cryptography"[*], if it's not on the list, forget it.

The preceding _may_ have been the greatest work of fiction since
vows of fidelity were included in the French wedding ceremony.
Make of it what you will.

/z/, zmudzint@cc.ims.disa.mil

[*] No Dan Quail jokes please.