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- Path: sparky!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!agate!ucbvax!CU.NIH.GOV!FZC
- From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV ("Paul Robinson, Contractor")
- Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
- Subject: Availability of PKZIP 2.04 on FTP sites
- Message-ID: <9301080555.AA19776@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
- Date: 8 Jan 93 01:31:05 GMT
- Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
- Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM
- Distribution: world
- Organization: The Internet
- Lines: 44
-
- The latest release of the PKZIP compression software
- for 80x86 PCs is now available from PKWARE, as
- PKZIP version 2.04.
-
- In the GAMES-L conference, a user by the ID code of
- KYL142@uriacc.uri.edu asked when we could find
- PKZIP 2.04 on an FTP server.
-
- Despite the fact that chances are excellent that
- you can call up any one of thousands of BBSs from
- any one of 650,000,000 convenient locations
- world wide, chances are that it will not appear
- on FTP servers for a while.
-
- Why? There is code in the program to password
- protect archives, i.e. encryption. The U.S. Government
- takes the position that computer programs containing
- encryption allegedly require export licenses on
- the same level and terms as exporters of
- fully automatic machine guns.
-
- Whether this opinion would withstand constitutional
- challenge under the first amendment is something I
- am not going to speculate on either way. I figure
- that the general export laws (anything legally
- downloadable from a BBS falls under the no-permit
- required class of material) do not apply but most
- system managers are relatively timid.
-
- This is the reason that WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL will
- not carry programs with encryption.
-
- Until there is a "non encryption" version available,
- PKZIP version 2.04 will generally not appear on
- FTP sites even though anyone from a restricted country
- could use a telephone and download it from a BBS.
- That makes no sense, but who expects the government
- to make any sense?
- ---
- Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM
- These (uninformed) opinions are mine alone. No one
- else is (stupid enough to be) responsible for them.
-
-
-