[FYI] (Fwd) Finnish prime minister on Wassenaar

["Axel H. Horns" <axel.horns@fitug.de>]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Wed, 16 Dec 1998 06:52:06 +0200 (EET)
From:          Tatu Ylonen <ylo@ssh.fi>
To:            gnu@toad.com
Cc:            cryptography@c2.net
Subject:       Finnish prime minister on Wassenaar
Organization:  SSH Communications Security, Finland

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 Sundb_ck,
  elaborated on Nokia's position towards Wassenaar.  According to
  Sundb_ck, 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.
  Sundb_ck said that applying for export permissions is a very
  "difficult thing", but Nokia has expertise in this area.

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