Re: End of ROCKate soon

[Robert Hogan <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday 06 July 2007 17:50:08 Benjamin Schieder wrote:
> Hi people.
>
> In response to a law that passed the german legislative today, I will cease
> production, development and distribution of ROCKate binaries and - maybe -
> even source code soon.
> The reasen is §202c StGB which states (IANAL translation):
>
> "Producing, acquiring, selling, giving, distributing or making-accessible
> of passwords or other access codes as well as computer programs whose aim
> it is to commi a crime ... will be punished with up to one year in jail or
> a fine."
>

IANAL interpretation:

"Unless the aim of ROCKate is to commit a crime, as opposed to facilitating 
privacy, then you have nothing to worry about. Honest."

Given Germany's recent history with Tor I understand your caution. And I don't 
think anyone would want to be the subject of a test case.

If the law is intended to mean "a computer program that facilitates a crime" 
then it's hard to think where the law could stop. I honestly think they are 
going after the bots and viruses with this, perhaps even programs that clone 
smart card information. If the remit is broader I'm really not sure how you 
could hang this law on Tor without hanging it on PGP as well. And then SSL 
and so on.

Are you aware of any other German software projects with similar concerns?

-- 

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