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Strict German Computer Crime Law Now in Effect

Posted by Zonk on from the going-to-jail-for-doing-your-job dept.

SkiifGeek writes "With little fanfare, section 202c of the German computer crime laws came into effect over the weekend. Worryingly for Security professionals, the laws make the mere possession of (creates, obtains or provides access to, sells, yields, distributes or otherwise allows access to) many useful tools illegal. A similar law was proposed for the UK, however it was modified prior to passing through parliament due to the outcry from the industry. Phenoelit, KisMAC, the CCC, and the Month of PHP Bugs are just some of the relatively high profile projects and groups to have already taken measures to remove or modify content under this law."

2 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Oh wow... by epee1221 · · Score: 4, Informative

    how will they manage to prevent EVIL hackers in germany from downloading their evil hacker tools from https://someip.org/hackertools/ ?
    Obviously, they'll just watch for the EVIL bit!
    --
    "The use-mention distinction" is not "enforced here."
  2. THC already hit by postmodern+modulus+I · · Score: 4, Informative

    The THC (The Hackers Choice) group has already been forced to discontinue some of it's best projects due to this absurd law.

    The Hacker's Choice is forced to discontinue several of its projects, as these might be effected by a new German 'anti-hacking' law. As a consequence all exploits and many releases have been removed from our web site. We are sorry.
    http://www.thc.org/

    Silenced are THC's Credit, Hydra, Scan and War-Drive. Hydra will be the most missed, as it was one of the best authentication bruteforcers. Not dwelling on this defeat to freedom of information and the security community, I suggest everyone in the security community begin resisting this trend towards silencing the messenger of insecurities.

    We should be working to create new tools and better means by which to distribute information and code, both securely and anonymously. The foolish politicians and companies who think they can dare enforce security by ignoring the problem and silencing individuals should be shown that this strategy does not work. This is yet another challenge to all the security researchers and programmers, will you allow others to dictate your creativity?

    --
    --postmodern