Re: <nettime> Should Open SOurce Developers help the US prepare for War..???!

[Francis Hwang <sera@fhwang.net>]

Quote from interviewee Anthony L. Awtrey:

> I know there have been reports of [terrorists] using PGP / GPG to 
> encrypt
> messages.  That has to give Phil Zimmermann the shivers sometimes.

Well, no, it doesn't.

http://www.landfield.com/isn/mail-archive/2001/Sep/0123.html

Personally, I think open source programmers need to be as conscious of 
ethical concerns as closed source programmers. Not much more, much less.

In a general sense, when you release uncontrollable code into the 
world, you have to ask yourself what you think about human nature. This 
echoes the constant debate in the security community about 
vulnerability disclosure. Me, I'm on the side that errs towards 
disclosure, which I suppose makes me an optimist. In most situations I 
think disclosure is a good thing because the number of white hats 
working to patch bugs are greater than the number of black hats working 
to exploit them for antisocial ends. In the case of PGP: Is it more 
likely to be used by those working for constructive ends than 
destructive ends? Do the Chinese dissidents on this earth outweigh the 
Al Queda operatives?

Francis

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