From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@pdj2-ra.F-REMOTE.CWRU.Edu>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 06:38:45 +0800
To: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: Crippled Notes export encryption
In-Reply-To: <9601242357.AA02688@alpha>
Message-ID: <m0tfuBe-0004LyC@pdj2-ra.F-REMOTE.CWRU.Edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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