IMHO - in my humble opinion -
Mein Blog zum Thema Privatsphäre, Internet und Humor.

++ Meine Anfrage an das SECO ++
 

Dear Sir or Madam

I am a concerned Swiss citizen interested in cryptography and I live in Switzerland.

Recently I read in a German computer magazine that the Swiss law is especially strict when it comes to applied cryptography.Now I want to make sure I do not harm any aws, especially not any of those intended to make this world a safer place by keeping the bad stuff away from maniacs, dictators and terrorists.

My questions:

I am a user (and fan) of the international version of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) which is able to work with asymetric keys of up to 4096 bits and symmetric keys of 128 bits.

- Do I violate any laws while using PGP to sign my e-mails?
- What happens if I encrypt Messages?
- Can I distribute the freely available softwarepackage to the U.S., Norway, Thailand?`
- What happens if I download the Software and upload it to my webserver?
- What happens if I do transfer the software-package directly from Norway to Germany (without downloading it t my computer)?
- Would it be a problem if I would translate the Help files from English to an other language and upload it to my homepage?
- Is it legal to link from my webpage to the homepage where PGP is freely available?

I still hope, most of the questions will be answered with "no problem", otherwise I fear that my homecountry is far behind the rest of the world. In my opinion it would be a lack of competitivness if Swiss companies only could offer "weak" encryption.

Cryptography has become everyday technology like mobile phones, palmtop computers and faxingmachines.

Thank you in advance for helping me to understand the Swiss laws concerning cryptography.

Meine Vermutung:
Jetzt warte ich auf die Antwort, aber so wie es aussieht, ist symmetrische Verschlüsselung mit mehr als 56 bit auf der Dual-Use-Items-Liste, dasselbe gilt für asymmetrische Verschlüsselung ab 512 bits. Ich arbeite also mit beinahe-Kriegsmaterial. Der Internet Explorer hat bei der SSL-Verschlüsselung auch 128 bit Schlüssellänge. Dürfte also nicht in jedes Ausland exportiert werden.

Im Moment arbeite ich mit 128 Bit symmetrisch und 4096 asymetrisch. Solange ich das Programm nicht ins Internet stelle ist das aber hoffentlich kein Problem.

Wir werden sehen, meine Feder ist gewetzt für die Antwort. Die Frage habe ich natürlich auf Englisch gestellt, weil ich dann die Antwort viel weiter verbreiten kann.

posted by Kaspar on www.imho.ch | direkter Link: Dienstag, August 31, 2004 top
        
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