[48180] in Cypherpunks
Re: Crippled Notes export encryption
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter D. Junger)
Fri Jan 26 15:01:19 1996
To: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 24 Jan 1996 17:57:48 CST."
<9601242357.AA02688@alpha>
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 14:51:54 -0500
From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@pdj2-ra.F-REMOTE.CWRU.Edu>
Mike McNally writes:
: Uhh, I'd like a second opinion please doc. Are you suggesting that
: whenever anybody with cryptographic expertise (like, maybe, anybody on
: this mailing list) leaves the country we're in violation of munitions
: export laws?
No, but only because there is an express exception in the ITAR:
Section 120.17 of the ITAR provides:
_Export_ means:
(1) Sending or taking a defense article out of the United States in
any manner, except by mere travel outside the United States by a
person whose personal knowledge includes technical data; . . . .
: Is somebody who knows how to build a rocket in the same boat?
Yes.
But in one way the case may be worse for you cryptographers if you
actually carry source code--or machine code--around inside your head.
For in the _Karn_ case the government has argued that source and
machine code are _not_ technical data, but are defense articles. So,
unless you first erase that portion of your memory that contains the C
code for implementing the RSA algorithm, you commit a felony--a
million dollar fine and ten years in jail max--if you step outside the
United States without first obtaining a license from the Office of
Defense Trade Controls.
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
Internet: junger@pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu
