From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 01:38:22 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Naive Export Question
In-Reply-To: <v02140b00aef3aeff55fd@[192.0.2.1]>
Message-ID: <v03007801aef3d5e0a084@[207.167.93.63]>
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At 11:07 PM -0800 1/3/97, Peter Hendrickson wrote:
>Given that:
>1. It is legal to export books with printed source code.
>2. It is legal for foreigners to type it in.
>3. It is legal for foreigners to post what they typed.
>4. It is legal to pay foreigners to type things into a computer.
>
>It seems to me that it would be legal for the author of a book with
>source code to pay foreigners to type in the code and post it.  The
>cost of doing so is small compared to the cost of writing and
>publishing the book.
>
>I assume that this is illegal, but which laws does it violate?


This is known as "structuring," as with structuring of funds transfers with
the apparent intent of avoiding certain laws.

(Not really, but I would not be surprised if the courts give some latitude
to prosecutions along these lines, or if specific language is eventually
added to make such circumventions a felony.)

All in all, as the various posts about Bernstein, Karn, OCR, the MIT Press
version of PGP, etc. have shown, attempting to block cryptographic code
from leaving the U.S. is a lost cause, for many reasons.

On a related topic, my hunch is that it is much more likely for a
prosecution to involve a major software company skirting the ITAR/EAR rules
by subcontracting with offshore companies (e.g., RSADSI using the NEC
chips, or Cylink using Israeli programmers) than it is that some lowly Net
person will be proscuted for dribbling out a few hundred lines of some
crypto program.

--Tim May

Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
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: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."