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German Government donates 250,000 DM to GNU Privacy Guard
One of the many ACs wrote in with the news that the German government is donating 250,000 marks (that's about 82,500, or $132,000) to the GNU Privacy Guard project. The article is in German, but the ever reliable Babelfish comes to the rescue.
I think that it is great news that the German government is supporting a project like this. However Germany does have more restrictions on certain freedoms than we do in the US - I wonder if they have thought the implications of GPG through completely.
There was a flap recently about amazon.com selling copies of Mien Kampf to German citizens because of their concerns with various forms of Neo-Nazism. I believe they are also struggling with Scientology. Encryption technologies like GPG must be helpful to underground organizations.
The main difference between Germans and Americans seems to be that Germans like to tell everyone what is wrong with their country, whilst Americans like to say that America is the best country in the world.
I don't know if it marketing or not. German history during the 20th century probably has an effect on the perception and confidence of its citizens towards any German goverment today. If you look at US history during the 20th century there have been a lot of times where the it's citizens have been pretty critical of the USA as a whole, too. Prior to the election of FDR things were pretty bad in this country. Ditto during the Vietnam war. Even during the 70's when the economy was doing crummy and there was a lot of hangover from Vietnam the average American didn't have a lot of good things to say about the way the country was going. There was a lot of feeling that we had passed out peak and were going to be supplanted by Japan as the leading economic power in the world.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union and having a very strong economy over the past decade Americans are feeling pretty good about how things are going here. I think it's good to enjoy it - these kinds of things don't last forever.
just because it's gnu something-or-other does not mean it's linux... get a clue.
"First of all, the people freely and voluntary gave themselves laws which require the paying of taxes"
1) It was not unanimous. Some people did not vote for those laws. Thus, it's not voluntary for them. They are still forced to obey laws other people made, through the threat of real and violent force. I do not trust the "majority" to look after the interests of anybody but the majority. The freely elected German government of sixty years ago is proof enough for me.
2) Did you notice that you used the words "voluntarily" and "require" in the same sentence?
3) I give myself laws all the time. They're called codes of conduct, morals and self-restraint. But when I "require" other people to obey my codes, morals and restraints, I become a despot.
I am not arguing against government or against taxes. But there is a point where governments get too much power, and taxes get too high. As one American reactionary and overall wacko (George Washington) once said "Government, like fire, is a helpful servant but a fearful master". When government gets to the point where it is deciding which individual *voluntary* software projects get tax funding, then it is well on the road to becoming a fearful master. When the feudal lords only demanded 10% of their serfs, it makes me wonder how my government views me when it asks for 50%!
"Secondly, you don't have to pay taxes. Every country I know of has an income threshold below which no taxes are collected."
Ha! You call this freedom? You give me a choice between destitution and taxation and tell me I'm free because I have a choice?
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
"You can't complain about the first abuse and ignore the second much greater abuse."
Who says I'm content with tax funding of proprietary software? I am as equally opposed to it. As my dear mother told me, "just because everyone else in the schoolyard is smoking dope doesn't make it right for you also."
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Fifty murders is far, far more horrendous than a single murder. But what if the fifty murders were in a far off city (proprietary software), but the single murder was in your own community (open source software)?
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Hey, hey, I think this is overstressed in your media. Neo-nazi and extermist problems take up much more space in news coverage about Germany than it actually should. For one part, it's because foreign countries are extra sensitive for anything right-wing that comes from Germany (for good, historical, reasons). Besides, this extremist thing is one of the few things about German that gives the reader a kind of a thrill which, sadly, often is a reason for news to be reported.
If you had said that the German government has more important things to care about than Open Source projects because the unemployment is so unacceptably high and gigantic amounts of money go the the absolutely wrong places, I would have agreed.
If you don't believe me, please remember the Neo-Nazi and extremist problems the U.S. have (Oklahoma bombing, KKK, militia groups, Jewish kindergarten shooting...). I'm not saying Neo-Nazis are no problem in Germany, but I don't think they are a bigger problem than in many other countries -- people just watch closer when it comes to Germany.
Yes, you are right there. -- Another glass of champagne?
Sometimes I wish taxpayers had the right to tell the government to stop wasting their money.
The irony of this statement floored me, and I hope you were being sarcastic. Ideally, the government _is_ the taxpayers, and we have every right to do so. The problem is that most people in the US see the political continuum as running between Republican and Democrat. Well, there is only a difference of degrees between the two. Both have their pet projects. Since voters think they have to decide between the two, the only option is which buzzword-project-of-the-month your money will be wasted on next. _Not_ wasting the money is simply out of the question, to the politicians. It's too ludicrous for words.
Communication is only possible between equals
As to American economic wellbeing, it seems to me that it is more talked about than felt. Sure, a lot of money is being made, but this boom is remarkably unequal in the way its rewards are distributed, and seems to be biting hard into job security. In terms of economic fundamentals it doesn't look so hot either: productivity growth is running at little more than half that of Europe, a high proportion of new jobs are in the `casual work' sector, and the US has a rather worrying balance of payments deficit.
9 99/29.htm
One can always find a bad statistic. The fact is that we are enjoying the longest unbroken economic expansion in the history of the US.
Sure, the balance of trade deficit is high right now, but the reason is not a failing in the US economy, but rather a drop in demand particularly from the far east due to the collapses there. As these economies are starting to recover we are seeing a decline in the negative balance of trade. These deficits while threatening to the US economy have been very important to the stabilizing of the economies of many nations during the past year.
European productivity is currently averaging a gain 22% higher (not anything like twice) than the US rate of increase over the past 15 years. However over the past 2 1/2 years the US productivity rate increase is higher than Europe's, and it is already starting at a level 25% higher per capita than in Europe. In the last quarter it was at an amazing 4.2% rate. What is really astounding is that this is occurring late in the economic cycle where productivity gains usually fall or even go below zero. Europe on the other hand is much earlier in their cycle and given their much higher unemployment rate should be expected to be higher than the cycle weighted average.
The issue of service sector jobs having low pay is one that was bandied about a lot in the 80's - however what has happened during this economic cycle is that the service sector has gained in average wage much faster than the manufacturing sector with a resulting close in the gap in pay. The low wage jobs that are available now are just not getting filled because the unemployment rate is so low. On an anecdotal level my son has to walk to school now because the school district was unable to hire a bus driver for this school year.
In any economy there will be individuals who do better than others. Once concern in the US is that because we have a very heterogeneous makeup these economic disparaties can seem extreme. But it is certain that even at the low level of the economic scale things are better. Welfare roles are at all time lows. The percentage of people living below the poverty line has been dropping for the first time since the 80's. Unemployment (which affects the lower part of the economic spectrum) is at 30 year lows. And the benefits are more widespread than ever. Fully 50% of american households have some participation in the stock market, an all-time high.
In terms of job security, I agree with you that it has decreased. Few workers spend 20 years with one employer any more. On the other hand job efficiency has improved considerably in the past few years. In fact studies have shown that the low unemployment rates we currently have are due to a reduction in the average time one is unemployed after losing a job.
Some statistics on productivity are available at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/235press/pr/1
You may also be interested in a recent speech by Michael Moskow President, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
http://www.frbchi.org/speeches/06_17_99.html
It makes lots of sense -- from a purely economic view -- to support the development of free software. That can easily end up saving tax-payer money.
In this case however, the idea probably is that a better software infrastructure will promote business in general, which is the purpose of this particular branch of government.
The data I quoted come from the first URL above which is a report published 9/1999 by the ILO. The stats listed there don't come close to a 2% per year productivity gain for continental Europe over teh 1980-1997 reference period.
A part of this is that the US began a huge investment in IT around 1995 that is still continuing. Some economic planners believe that this is the reason for the recent spurt in productivity growth. While it may not continue forever - and the lateness of the economic cycle is a big reason why other sectors are declining in productivity now - there has been no corresponding such investment in Europe which casts a lot of doubt as to whether they will see the same productivity increase.
I think the best part is that this confirms my faith that there are governments in this world committed to privacy and protecting their citizen's rights. I would never have expected to say that this is coming from the German government of all places (history aside and all, the modern German government seems to often have it's hands full controlling it's Neo-Nazi and extremist group problem, and thus would be unlikely to be an ardent proponent or supporter of encryption software projects). Maybe somebody who is German and can read the article and explain a bit more will enlighten me and the rest of us /. readers.
I don't have the URL handy but it showed how various contries rate in terms of encryption and what not. Can someone provide it? I want to see how Germany ranked inregards to other countries. This should definatly raise them a few points.
"We hope you find fun and laughter in the new millenium" - Top half of fastfood gamepiece
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
For anyone who can't get it to Babel, basicly they're contributing funding to improve the interface, develop for multiple OSen and add capability to mail clients to use it. Also, it seems this is an initial investment, not just a one-time thing.
This is amazingly cool. A government that is going to support Open Source security tools as an end in itself due to transparency of the source, reliability and I'd assume economic benifits as well.
Paul
http://www.pauldrobertson.com
Here's my attempt at a translation. Sorry, English is not my first language.
German government fosters open source
The open source project "GNU privacy guard" (GPG) led by the German developer Werner Koch shall receive a financial aid of 250,000 DM by the German Ministry for Enonomy and Science (BMWi) this year. More funds and similar actions shall follow next year. The German government wants to tap the potential of open source development within the area of security related software and hopes to set a signal effect by supporting open source.
The second focus shall be supporting open source projects within security related software projects that the BMWi hope to help increase transparency and reliability of future security products. The core question, according to Ulrich Sandl of the BMWi, is how to increase the transparency of security technology: "It is almost impossible for small to medium businesses today to judge the actual security value of an encryption product."
An important step shall be the support for GPG. "The concept of GPG might help to create a tool that can be used as public domain software without any restrictions for all members of a society - the state, businesses and private users alike can get free access for no charge," says Hubertus Soquat, referent for IT security at the BMWi.
The financial aid for GPG shall mainly be used to create comfortable user interfaces for GPG and to port the tool for various operating systems, various mail clients etc.
Original German article by Stefan Krempl.
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You may like my a cappella music
Entry #72 in "Why Europe seems ever-more attractive as a place to live": some of the governments seem actually interested in protecting their citizens' rights.
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
Before the end of the year, the open source project GNU privacy guard (GPG), coordinated by the programmer Werner Koch from Dusseldorf, will receive a financial injection of DM 250,000 from the federal department of economy and technology. With this, the federal government wants to unlock the potential of open source for privacy and hopes to make a statement with the gift.
--
bgphints - internet routing news, hints and ti
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
One would think that the US is the most freedom loving country in the world. Whenever one of their god-given rights (such as the right to bear arms) is threatened, tons of people (ranging from stark raving mad to actually very reasonable) get up and scream. Yet, the US government can not get itself to use/apply reasonably (and realistic) encryption policies when dealing with it's citizens.
Now Germany (yes, I do know what I'm talking about), a country which in which I always assumed politicians lived in even darker ages than their US counterparts, shows us how it can be done. Maybe in a few decennia we'll all be able to look back at this and wonder why it wasn't obvious that encryption/privacy is (or should be) a fundamental human right in the electronic age.
This summer there has been the conference Wizards of OS in Berlin. One day before that conference there has been an expert hearing of the German Minstry of Commerce (BMWi) about Open Source. The meeting has been initiated by Ulrich Sandl (BMWi), who was unable to attend in person due to an accident.
They managed to get into contact with german developers of the KDE Team, the Apache Team, the Linux Kernel, the Mutt mailer, the GPG and OpenPGP projects and other key Open Source projects. Also attending were CEOs or key people from companies which were actually earning money with Open Source based business models. After that meeting, there has been a fruitful discussion between multiple supporters of the Open Source Scene in Germany and the BMWi.
The BMWi was particularly interested into ideas on how to create a supporting infrastructure for Open Source development without destroying the current structures and without creating a culture shock or the impression of a governmental takeover of Open Source development. They also learned first time about the dangers of Software Patents and were quite shocked to learn that Software Patents were seen as an obstacle, and not as a good thing by the Open Source devlopment scene.
The donation to the GPG project is the first in a number of actions in a governmental plan which are the direct or indirect result of this meeting. Exspect further investment and support for Open Source projects from the German Government as well as the donation of ressources and services where needed.
© Copyright 1999 Kristian Köhntopp
This is GREAT news. It does, however put the German government on a direct collision course with the United States, which seems determined to create a worldwide Police State. Now that the Germans and other European countries are openly and directly exploiting the "loophole" in Wassenaar (sp?) that allows for strong PD crypto, the US Gov't will be furious.
Expect a lot of backroom "diplomacy" (bribes and various kinds of strongarming) to be used by the United States against Europoean governments to tighten up Wassenaar now.
Janet Reno already wrote to the german government. You can find the letter on the Heise/Telepolis website. They have a commentary article as well as the original letter. Telepolis' writer Christiane Schulzki-Haddouti covers the whole Echelon and ENFOPOL (english URL) thingy in a special Telepolis section. If you do not read German, this woman is a single, very good reason to do so.
© Copyright 1999 Kristian Köhntopp
My guess is that, by the end of next year, we could see FreeSWAN, GPG, OpenSSH and OpenSSL all getting similar cash injections.
Only if the developers live in Germany.. so if you live in Germany and are interested in working on these projects.. this might be a really good time to start. It might take a few years of major contribution to get the name, but if you are interestedanyway then that sould be worth it.
Jeff
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
What you are talking about is plausable deniability. The SegFS filesystem (compatible with ext2) will do a better job then the test.file mathod. It provides multiple layers of encryption and it is impossible to prove a higher layer exists from a lower layer since it puts random crap in any block that it erases.
jeff
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I'm curious whether any non-US countries have done this as well (no, this is not an attempt at a "well, everybody does it" argument - I'm just curious whether the US is the only major power indulging in that sort of activity).
As for the analysis of the recent productivity spurt, that is provided by the Commerce Department and was widely reported. It seems productivity figures have succumbed to Moore's Law, which I would say undermines their usefulness.
250,000DM ~ $132,000US
250,000DM ~ $192,750CDN
These values dance around a fair bit (naturally) but are more-or-less accurate at time of this writing. Conversions are courtesy of The Universal Currency Converter (don't do transcontinental net.biz without it!)
--
rickf@transpect.SPAM-B-GONE.net (remove the SPAM-B-GONE bit)
"People will pay big bucks for the luxury of ignorance."
My guess is that, by the end of next year, we could see FreeSWAN, GPG, OpenSSH and OpenSSL all getting similar cash injections.
This can only help people, and the computer industry in particular, and is likely to deal a severe blow to things like the Wassenar Agreement and the US Government's attempts to restrain encryption technology.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
There is a link from the newsticker page to another with the complete article here
The last paragraph is interesting:
With the Brochure "Linux in small and medium Businesses:, the BMWi also wants to promote the Open-Source-OS as an alternative to Windows and as a platform for commercial use. In the Brochure, leaders of those businesses shall be told the technological basics of Linux. The BMWi has won the Linux Distributor LinuxLand.If only the US government spent one tenth of the amount of money they are currently spending to fight encryption to instead promote it. Then projects like this would have ample funding for the next 100 years.
Sometimes I wish taxpayers had the right to tell the government to stop wasting their money.
Unbreakable toys can be used to break other toys.
Here in the US our government is trying as hard as it can to keep encryption out of common use and especially strong encryption.
And in Germany, the government is DONATING MONEY to an open effort working on strong encryption.
That makes a statement all right. I hope (because I am naieve) that our government will take note.
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
I have a file called "test.file" in my homedir. It is 10Mb out of /dev/random:
dd if=/dev/random of=test.file bs=1k count=10240
I can honestly maintain that this is random binary data. However if I do have something to hide, I'll put it in there.
I recommend that everyone creates a 10Mb "test.file", just to test the Linux random number generator....
When any one of us gets forced to give up the key to that file (wether there is stuff in there or not), just shout for help on slashdot, and you'll quickly have a few bunch of people who've had a "test.file" on their harddisk just like you, proving that they are just testfiles.....
Roger.