Censoring Dutch Academia: Computer Security Scholars taken to Court
July 8th, 2008[ July 18, 2008: University wins the case, UPDATE HERE]
The Computer Security Group in Nijmegen, is taken to Cour by NXP because of a forthcoming publication over the broken Mifare chip. The chip is used in a variety of products and services, most notably the upcoming OV-Chipcard for public transport in the Netherlands. Bart Jacobs c.s. had waited with the publication and presentation of the results to give NXP the opportunity to fix the problems. NXP did not solve the problem. Now it thinks it’s the best to get a judge order to prevent the publication. Decision upcoming Thursday. The Security publication is happening in the midst of a long and heated public debate in parliament and the media about the merits of large scale computer systems, their quality and security standards and the government’s ability to manage these kind of projects. The publication is essential for this debate. The judge will have to send NXP back to their laboratories - if they have any.