From: Anthony.zboralski (bcs2005bellua.com)
Date: Wed Jan 12 2005 - 13:00:08 CST

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On 11 Jan 2005, at 18:14, plonky wrote:

> I was about to tell it.
> Now im an outlaw .
> But in France, there is an addon to the LEN (Loi sur l'Economie
> Numerique, Law about digital business, the closest translation in
> english), which says that people working for scientifical or technical
> research or computer security in official organisms or company which
> are officially accredited for such things, can store, study test those
> kind of software.
>
> But as im a poor student, not working for such entities, im outlaw.
> But i already was cause i have some exploit on my hd in my mailbox.
>
> --
> plonky

Actually, this law is called the "Loi pour la confiance dans l'économie
numérique"
and can be translated to "Trust in the Digital Economy Law".

Before we start telling everyone it is illegal to possess exploits in
France, let's wait until this
unconstitutional crap is enforced and later challenged at the Cour de
Cassation and in the
European Court of Justice. I bet it doesn't stand a chance! Also a lot
of laws are not even
enforced at all. e.g. Under French law, having sex with a drunk person
is considered rape even
if the person is consenting... Damn, all the ex-girlfriends I met at
parties were rapists. I wonder
if it is still considered as a rape if both partners are drunk.

Here is a brief summary of the article, Chris Eagle pointed to:
Guillaume Tena, posted several advisories concerning Viguard, a French
antivirus software (its publisher, Tegam, claims it can stop 100% of
viruses). In response, the publisher sued Guillaume for counterfeiting
and "recel" (receiving and/or concealing counterfeit goods). The
advisories contained disassembled pieces of the software. Even though
in Europe, reverse engineering is legal when done for compatibility
reason; the "Instruction" judge ( judge of investigation) decided it
was a "delit" (misdemeanour/offence/tort) because Guillaume published
his findings. Two years later the judge dropped the "recel" charge.
The forgery charge was maintained and he was condemned
on the 4th of January. He was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence
of 4 months and has to pay a fine of 6000 euros. The antivirus
publisher is now seeking damages of 900,000 euros.

I think that under normal circumstances, Guillaume should appeal. But
because the original incident
happened in 2001 and our last presidential election was in 2002, the
judgement is already amnestied (it is tradition, the newly-elect
president will offer a general amnesty for minor crimes) and the
sentence won't even be recorded on Guillaume's judiciary file (It takes
one year before a judgement is recorded there.)
(N.B. condemned offenses are erased after 5 years and condemned crimes
are erased after 30 years; without condemnation, 3 and 10 years
respectively, it is called prescription.)

Guillaume should look for more flaws in this antivirus software. This
time, instead of publishing the results on internet, he should give
them to his lawyer as evidence and sue Tegam for false advertisement.

We should all make anonymous calls about Tegam to work inspection, tax
department, customs, narcotics, URSSAF, hygiene, etc... to unleash an
army of government inspectors.

It is also interesting to note that in France, a "delit",
tort/offense/misdemeanour is not a crime. The notion of crime is
limited to "Armed robbery, rape, murder, assassination and organisation
of wrong-doers (association de malfaiteurs). Maybe one day, the music
majors will try to attack p2p networks on the basis that all the
participants is an association of wrong-doers and constitute a crime
even though copyright violation itself isn't a crime... Copyright
violation doesn't even quality as theft. Next time, you see an advert
or hear someone saying that "leeching MP3 is theft" or "Computer piracy
is a crime", if you're in France or in a country with similar laws you
should sue for "false advertising" and/or "slanderous/libellous
accusations". (article 29 de la Loi de 1881). Slanderous accusations
can be punished with 45000 euros and 5 years of detention :) and moral
persons (corporations) may be banned to exercise the activity in which
the infraction occurred. Again in France, if morons send you an e-mail
saying you're a thief because you copied their stuff, they fall under
non-public defamation and insult (R. 621-1 et R. 621-2 du Nouveau Code
Pénal.) You might have done something wrong but that doesn't give
anyone the right to break the law (using a mantrap to catch a robber is
punishable. )

gaius

--
Bellua Cyber Security Asia 2005 - http://www.bellua.com/bcs2005
21-22 March - The Workshops - 23-24 March - The Conference
bcs2005bellua.com - Phone: +62213918330 HP:+628159102495

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