From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 16:16:41 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: White House crypto proposal -- too little, too late
In-Reply-To: <199610020332.UAA16659@mail.pacifier.com>
Message-ID: <v03007802ae77bdc0e257@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 8:32 PM -0800 10/1/96, jim bell wrote:

>An import restriction would be even less effective than the current export
>restrictions.  With an import restriction, a person need merely receive a
>given piece of software in the mail from an "unknown" benefactor, software
>that (surprise!) would have been illegal to import.  (the software doesn't
>even have to be mailed from outside the US, merely trucked in by a wetback
>and anonymously mailed by tossing it into the ubiquitous USnail PO Box.)
>Redistribution of this software would have to be legal, if for no other
>reason than nobody could prove it was imported illegally.  Nobody outside
>the US would have any standing to sue for copyright violation, because they
>couldn't import it and sell it without restrictions.

They can of course outlaw possession and distribution of code not legal to
import into the U.S., regardless of whether they can find out who imported
it.

Imagine your reasoning modified to cover a very relevant current law:

Origninal:

"Redistribution of this software would have to be legal, if for no other
reason than nobody could prove it was imported illegally."

Modified Version:

"Redistribution of narcotics and other drugs would have to be legal, if for
no other reason than nobody could prove they were imported illegally."

--Tim May

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."