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Q: Or is that one of the problems? <BR>
Q: Or is that one of the problems? <BR>
A: Strictly speaking, it is not one of the problems. The fact that the license is non-free is the primary problem.
A: Strictly speaking, it is not one of the problems. The fact that the license is non-free is the primary problem.
Thank you for answering these questions. So, in summary, either the truecrypt guys go talk with FSF or we need to find an alternative.

Revision as of 08:03, 15 August 2009

Truecrypt license troubles

Currently I use truecrypt to encrypt private data. Reading the section on truecrypt spawns many questions. The main two issues are:

Q: What is wrong with the license?
A: Short answer, lots. With every major revision of the TrueCrypt license, it becomes less risky, but it is still non-free. We are hopeful that a discussion between TrueCrypt and the FSF will help resolve the remaining issues, but this has yet to occur.

Q: Maybe a pointer to the discussion or a summary of the discussion is in order
A: An older discussion is here: http://www.mail-archive.com/distributions@lists.freedesktop.org/msg00274.html

Q: What alternatives could (easily) replace truecrypt?
A: Sorry, this is not my area of expertise.

Q: Would it be possible to spawn a new truecrypt and have a different license?
A: No.

Q: For instance could someone change it to being GPL-ed?
A: Only the TrueCrypt copyright holders could choose to do that, and they have never done so (afaik).

Q: Or is that one of the problems?
A: Strictly speaking, it is not one of the problems. The fact that the license is non-free is the primary problem.

Thank you for answering these questions. So, in summary, either the truecrypt guys go talk with FSF or we need to find an alternative.