Developers behind KisMAC scanning/cracking software, plan to give it up: A statutory change in Germany leads KisMAC's developers to believe that if they continue to make the source code available and develop the software, they would be liable to criminal prosecution. KisMAC software is a Mac OS X Wi-Fi stumbler that can capture data and crack Wi-Fi passwords.

The change would make it illegal to access private networks or private communications, by adding penalties not just for extracting passwords and other codes, but if you simply create software that could facilitate this illegal activity. In the U.S., it's still legal to create software that cracks passwords; intent is what drives criminality. (A description of the law's changes can be found--in German--can be found here [PDF], at the Federal Ministry of Justice's site.)

Because KisMAC scans for non-public information and can crack passwords, it would clearly be within the scope of the law. While the developers could conceivably tear some of the guts of the program out to remove cracking code, it's likely that the mere act of passively scanning a network to which you don't have permission to access, which might allow you to see unprotected passwords, would be illegal. (I start reading a little German, and the dependent clauses just start multiplying.)

A demonstration is planned for August 9, as the law also requires onerous data retention policies. The Stop the Data Retaining movement--it sounds better in German, honestly--says that the law will require retention by providers and telecoms records of all communications by landline phone, mobile phone, and the Internet. Six months of connection data would be stored . That is, not the contents of communication, such as email messages, but all the calls placed and received, to whom messages were sent, and so on. The movement also says anonymization services would be banned.