From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis)
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 04:02:27 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Regulation of citizen-alien communications (Was: Choices)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9602111003.B11207-0100000@dal1820.computek.net>
Message-ID: <ZDB6iD7w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Ed Carp <erc@dal1820.computek.net> writes:
> On Sun, 11 Feb 1996, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
>
> >  Export means:
> >
> >  (4) Disclosing or transferring technical data to a foreign person, whether
> >  in the United States or abroad;
> >
> > A foreign person is defined in S 120.11, and means anyone who's not a U.S.
> > citizen. Technical data is defined in S 120.33
>
> Oh?  You mean that I can get busted for giving my Canadian spouse a copy
> of PGP?

Well, I'm not a lawyer. ;-) S 120.11 (Foreign person) goes like this:

 Foreign person means any natural person who is not a "citizen or intending
 citizen" of the United States within the meaning of 8 U.S.Code 1324 b(a)(3).
 It also means any foreign corporation... The term "intending citizen" means a
 person who has been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent
 residence (and maintains such residence) under the Immigration and
 Naturalization Act (8 U.S.Code 101(a), 1101(a), 60 Stat. 163).

I don't have 8 U.S.Code here (I'm not a lawyer :-), but the "indenting citizen"
bit sounds to me like the INS form which affirms that one intends to stay here
permanently, and to become U.S. citizen once eligible, which those immigrants
who haven't been in the U.S. long enough to apply for citizenship are asked to
show when they apply for certain jobs, like the NYC Board of Ed.

So -- I think that if the climate in the U.S. reverts to what it was in the
'50's, a zelous prosecutor might tell a grand jury that you gave munitions to a
"forriner", and you might be indicted, and the onus would be on you to prove
that your wife was an "intending citizen".

All this smacks of Nazism.

P.S. Last time I taught an undergraduate computer security course, my floppy
disk handouts contained, inter alia, PGP, and I didn't ask which students were
U.S. citizens.

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps