I'm not surprised, but it is still aggravating. Cory Nachreiner over at WatchGuard Wire has a good writeup of the latest news on the UK's attempts to ban "hacker tools". The key issue is summarized well in Cory's article:
"At first glance, that may not seem so alarming. After all, hacking tools are bad, right? Well...not necessarily. Almost every security researcher or pen-tester I have ever met uses applications and scripts that could easily qualify as hacking tools. Security researchers regularly use applications like Wireshark, nmap, and Metasploit either to find or test for network and computer vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, attackers also use these tools regularly for their own nefarious purposes. Banning such tools would simply hamper security research in the UK. Meanwhile, the bad guys -- no strangers to breaking the law -- would still download and use these outlawed hacking tools anyway."
They'll have to pry my Wireshark from my cold, down eth0...
Jack
