From: thad@hammerhead.com (Thaddeus J. Beier)
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 11:25:29 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: PGP
Message-ID: <199602160551.VAA16645@hammerhead.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> Could you settle a dispute?  Is it, or Is it not, legal to take 
> PGP source code and the like out of the country if it is written on
> paper?

It is unclear.  Up until recently, there was never any restriction imposed
on taking code out of the country.  Technical papers are presented, the book
Applied Cryptography as explicitly allowed to be exported.

Then MIT came out with the PGP book.  The book contains the entire source, in a easy
to scan font.  I don't know for a fact, but it seems to me that it was designed
to push the line a little bit.

A CJR request was filed for the book.  There is a statutory requirement that the
response come back within some small number of weeks.  So far it's been over a
year, and while it has not been rejected, it has not been approved either.

So, it is unclear.  Check out Phil Karn's web page.  If you are interested in
just how far the gov't will go; how foolish they are willing to look; it's all there.

http://www.qualcomm.com/people/pkarn/export/index.html#govt

thad
-- Thaddeus Beier                     thad@hammerhead.com
   Technology Development                   408) 286-3376
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