“A branch of the German government on Thursday announced plans
to give a grant of 318,000 marks (about $170,000) to a grass-roots
effort to help create new data-scrambling software. The move is
controversial because the United States government has been
lobbying the German government to restrict such technology for fear
that criminals and terrorists will use it to cloak their actions.
The German government cited the need to protect electronic commerce
and private communications against these same criminals and
terrorists.”
“The grant from the German Federal Ministry of Finance and
Technology will go to the German Unix Users Group (GUUG) to help
them enhance a program known as GNU Privacy Guard.“
“A spokeswoman from the United States Commerce Department’s
Bureau of Export Administration, which enforces the government’s
control of encryption software, declined to comment on the grant
until the agency received further details.”
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