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(libc.info)Legal Problems

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Legal Problems
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   Because of the continuously changing state of the law, it's not
possible to provide a definitive survey of the laws affecting
cryptography.  Instead, this section warns you of some of the known
trouble spots; this may help you when you try to find out what the laws
of your country are.

   Some countries require that you have a licence to use, possess, or
import cryptography.  These countries are believed to include
Byelorussia, Burma, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Pakistan,
Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

   Some countries restrict the transmission of encrypted messages by
radio; some telecommunications carriers restrict the transmission of
encrypted messages over their network.

   Many countries have some form of export control for encryption
software.  The Wassenaar Arrangement is a multilateral agreement
between 33 countries (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Romania, the
Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States) which
restricts some kinds of encryption exports.  Different countries apply
the arrangement in different ways; some do not allow the exception for
certain kinds of "public domain" software (which would include this
library), some only restrict the export of software in tangible form,
and others impose significant additional restrictions.

   The United States has additional rules.  This software would
generally be exportable under 15 CFR 740.13(e), which permits exports of
"encryption source code" which is "publicly available" and which is
"not subject to an express agreement for the payment of a licensing fee
or royalty for commercial production or sale of any product developed
with the source code" to most countries.

   The rules in this area are continuously changing.  If you know of any
information in this manual that is out-of-date, please report it using
the `glibcbug' script. Note: Reporting Bugs.