[fyodor at insecure.org: C|Net Download.Com is now bundling Nmap with malware!]

Malte von dem Hagen mvh at hosteurope.de
Wed Dec 7 00:44:10 UTC 2011


Hi,

Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu wrote on Mi, 2011-12-07 at 00:59+0100:
> On Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:07:47 EST, Dan Collins said:
>> On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 4:45 PM,  <Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:30:20 PST, "andrew.wallace" said:
>>>> It could be argued that Nmap is malware, and such software has already been called to be made illegal.
>>>
>>> Called by whom, other than yourself?
>>
>> Germany?
>>
>> http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/08/new_german_hack.html
> 
> I rest my case. ;)
> 
> Anybody know if they ever fixed their law?

not really. There have been some highest court decisions regarding this
law saying the criminal liability depends on the intention someone
produces or owns such tools - German jurisprudence is much more than the
wording of the written law (though we have a lot of written laws,
including many very strange ones). ;-)

De facto, everybody in the industry continues to use "dual use" tools
without fear of punishment and I am not aware of any dubious court
decisions - the law was created for clearly illegal uses of such tools.

Nontheless, as said by others, "hacker tools" != "malware".

Regards,

Malte
-- 
Malte von dem Hagen
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