

Russian Intelligence Gets Source Code to Windows 7 - eplanit
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/07/russian_intelli_1.html

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TallGuyShort
_"If a government has the source code it can find different sorts of security
vulnerabilities and perhaps exploit them, [but] it's unclear whether access to
the source code makes people better or worse off," said Clayton. \------ Take
a look at FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and Linux if it's unclear to you._

I don't really agree with that comment. Linux and the BSDs are open-source to
everyone. The vast majority of the people who look at that code are good,
honest people, who believe in openness and security for all. In this case, if
it's only open to a national government, there's every risk of them
discovering vulnerabilities and using them maliciously. I don't think they
will, I just think comparing this deal to *nix is invalid.

What I'm curious about, however, is how this stands legally in the U.S. I
thought it was illegal for a civilian (and by extension, private corporation)
to cooperate with foreign intelligence agencies, unless working through the
federal government. Anyone know more?

