Starting in 1999, the government??™s efforts to restrict export of strong encryption technology suffered reversals
in the courts. In 1999, for example, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2??“1 in the Bernstein case that the
restriction on exporting source code for encryption products was an infringement of free speech, since source
code is ???expressive.??? The court said the government did not have the right to impose a ???prior restraint??? on such
speech.
While the ruling could have been appealed further, the US State Department decided to discontinue its
efforts to control encryption technology. Such public key systems can now be used and exported to support
private communications between computer users.
VIRUSES, WORMS, AND TROJAN HORSES
Viruses are programs that are concealed within another program. When the user executes the ???host??? program,
the virus gets control and may perform actions unrelated to the host program??™s apparent function. While it has
control, the virus program also replicates itself by attaching itself to another executable on the user??™s computer.
The self-replication property of a virus permits it to spread rapidly among networked computers.
A Trojan horse is similar, in that a Trojan Horse is a program with a second, unadvertised function in addition
to its apparent function.
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