[tptacek]

The US was, of course, not unique in this regard. The UK seriously explored mandatory key escrow, and their equivalent of PATRIOT (ie: their statutory reaction to 2000s terrorism) makes it a felony under some circumstances not to provide requested keys to investigators.

It would be interesting to see people do the legwork for crypto policies in other European countries. I'd be particularly interested in Germany's policies, and Poland's.

[peterwwillis]

Policies aren't the only way nations can help push for more widespread use of strong crypto. GnuPG's docs and ports were funded by Germany initially to perpetuate more secure transmission of e-mail messages. More countries should invest in security R&D (rather than create policies). It's new technology, not policies governing existing technology, that will make them more resistant to cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare. The fact that it'd also be a boon to private citizens and corporations probably isn't as important to them, but it is definitely important.