[5075] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
RE: US export restrictions - a travellers guide ?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Stewart)
Wed Jul 7 23:00:18 1999
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 20:22:28 -0700
To: "Rodger, William" <wrodger@usatoday.com>,
Frank Andrew Stevenson <frank@funcom.com>, cryptography@c2.net
From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
In-Reply-To: <19990706165636.3CEF5ACEF@smtpgate.gannett.com>
At 12:59 PM 7/6/99 -0400, Rodger, William wrote:
>Don't sweat it, Frank. There are no laws against import of crypto into the
>US. There is also an export exemption that lets people take out single
>copies of heavy-duty crypto software on their laptops for their personal
>use. You're covered.
This is incorrect. There are exemptions letting _Americans_
take out single copies of strong crypto, but you have to bring them back
rather than leaving them in the foreign country or giving them
to foreigners. I doubt there are similar exemptions for foreigners,
and even if there are, not giving them to any non-Americans again
is pretty silly, given that you're a non-Americans.
>Frank Andrew Stevenson wrote:
> Tomorrow I leave Oslo for the US, where among other things will attend
>DEFCON 7. For this occasion I have prepared a 'black disk' containing ssh
>executables that will allow me to communicate with my home network.
You've got three choices
- Bring it to the US and leave it here (legal.)
It may or may not be legal for you to give it to a non-American here :-)
- Don't worry about the laws because the US doesn't check exports
on passengers and their luggage except bomb/gun xrays and drug sniffers,
and Norway won't mind you importing it
- Try to get the US officials to tell you exactly what you can do,
which is entertaining if you like that sort of entertainment :-)
However, you don't have the time, since the tomorrow that you left
was probably today by now, and this is a sport for people who
aren't in a hurry.
>Today I called the US embassy in Oslo to find out if I would be allowed to
>bring the disk with >me back to Norway or if I would have to macculate it
>before leaving the U.S.... A simple >question, or so I thought :-)
The embassy bureaucrat has a supervisor. That supervisor has a supervisor.
If any of the officials can't give you an answer, you can politely ask to
speak to their supervisor. And it's almost guaranteed that none of them
will know the answer - so that ought to get you to the Ambassador if you're
patient...
Thanks!
Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
