The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is part of the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior; an independent and neutral body for matters of IT security.
Without referring to JBIG2 itself, the BSI has now prohibited, for German federal agencies, use of pattern-matching algorithms used in lossy JBIG2 implementations for scans affecting "legal compliance". The ban is effective March 16, 2015.
JBIG2 compression that does not utilize pattern-matching appears not to be affected.
These rules are mandatory for German federal agencies, but are likely to affect those doing business with these agencies. How much farther the impact remains to be seen.
Specifically, the BIS says:
Verfahren, die zur Bildkompression die sog. Pattern Matching & Substitution - Vorgehensweise nutzen, DÜRFEN NICHT eingesetzt werden. Auch das verwandte Soft Pattern Matching DARF NICHT eingesetzt werden.
In English:
Techniques for image compression, which are using so called "Pattern Matching & Substitution", MUST NOT be used. Along the same lines, Soft Pattern Matching MUST NOT be used.
Read BSI TR-03138 (German).
KOST (the Swiss "Koordinationsstelle für die dauerhafte Archivierung elektronischer Unterlagen" / "Swiss coordinating agency for longterm preservation of electronic records" recently passed a similar requirement for document managers in Swiss government.
Founder of Document Solutions, Inc. in 1996, Duff Johnson is a 23 year veteran of the electronic document space and a recognized leader in the electronic document technology industry. Now an independent consultant, Duff serves the PDF industry as ISO Project co-Leader (and US TAG chair) for ISO 32000 and ISO 14289. Previously Vice Chairman of the Board, Duff Johnson …
Founder of Document Solutions, Inc. in 1996, Duff Johnson is a 23 year veteran of the electronic document space and …
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