Slashdot Mirror
Symantec Restricts Crypto Export
PhilK writes "Symantec is now refusing to sell LC5 (the Windows password cracking tool, previously from @stake) to anyone outside of the USA and Canada, claiming new Homeland Security laws. Symantec declined to field questions on the rationale for its policy and whether it applies to other products." From the article: "Symantec's restrictions recall the dark days of the crypto wars when users outside the US were not entitled to buy products featuring strong ciphers. These rules, relaxed by the Clinton administration and following a long running campaign by cryptography experts and net activists, are once again rearing their head. Symantec's response to our reader (below) suggests the policy was imposed on it by the US government."
All your Cyphers are belong to U.S.
Bad news: I can't buy a copy of LC5.
Good news: According to another Slashdot story, I can download one for free from a French web site!!
What sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'Ni' at will to old ladies. There is a pestilence upon this land. Nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design cryptographic software are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.