[3818] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Finnish prime minister on Wassenaar
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tatu Ylonen)
Wed Dec 16 00:08:55 1998
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 06:52:06 +0200 (EET)
From: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@ssh.fi>
To: gnu@toad.com
CC: cryptography@c2.net
The following article is from Helsingin Sanomat, December 15, 1998,
page B7. (Helsingin Sanomat is the largest Finnish daily newspaper.
Mr. Lipponen is the Finnish prime minister. Freely translated from
Finnish.)
Lipponen on Wassenaar:
"The United States is in a very powerful position"
The agreement made in early December in the secretive Wassenaar
organization on export controls of strong encryption technology puts
the industry in a difficult position and conflicts with the
government's position on encryption politics. In particular people
have wondered how the United States got its view through.
Prime minister Paavo Lipponen reminded that "The United States is in
a very powerful position" and that in Wassenaar "we must aim for
mutual understanding".
"The Wassenaar negotiations are highly secret", Lipponen said. The
prime minister did not comment on what was the subject of trading in
the Wassenaar negotiations. Despite giving in Finland is not,
according to Lipponen, changing its liberal principles in encryption
politics. "Finland still aims for openness and free markets also in
this area."
The Nokia director responsible for trade politics, Veli Sundbäck,
elaborated on Nokia's position towards Wassenaar. According to
Sundbäck, Nokia stands with the industry's position that strong
encryption should be permitted and its export should not be
restricted.
Export control causes Nokia additional work and extra expenses.
Sundbäck said that applying for export permissions is a very
"difficult thing", but Nokia has expertise in this area.
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