From: qwerty-remailer@netcom.com
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 19:10:23 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re:  Military & dependants
Message-ID: <199402060308.TAA28240@mail.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Nobody asks:
> Can American Military members or their family take copies of PGP
> or other encryption programs with them when being stationed at
> overseas bases?  Aren't the overseas installations considered to
> be American soil while occupied, thus permitting such transfers?

I'm not sure what the ITAR rules say about export of armaments by
the military; it would be nice if it were illegal :-)

Also don't know if sending to American military bases overseas
counts as export, especially if it involves going through
non-US territory (if there is such a thing any more :-()

Use of encryption technology by the military is probably subject to
all sorts of rules; use for official purposes certainly is.
You could probably get in major trouble for doing so without authorization,
and I doubt PGP is officially approved; it's certainly not approved
for classified information.

Patent issues are also involved; the government is allowed to use
RSA as part of the terms of the funding deals for their research,
but this presumably doesn't apply to private use by government
employees.  On the other hand, IDEA wasn't developed with US funds,
and its patent probably doesn't give the government any rights 
to use it.  Ascom Tech probably could try to restrict it if they wanted.