From: "Phillip M. Hallam-Baker" <hallam@ai.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 14:08:01 -0800 (PST)
To: "'cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: Another Interpretation of the U.K. Proposal
Message-ID: <01BC393F.C5DF4D40@crecy.ai.mit.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Timothy C. May <tcmay@got.net> wrote in article <5h6rmj$38q@life.ai.mit.edu>...

> The U.K. may sense that, absent such "local content" laws, the market for
> key signings, time-stamping, and other services will naturally concentrate
> in certain markets.

I think they would expect to win that battle in any case. I don't think there is a particular concern about competition except in regard to the problem of the UK legal framework being inadequate.

The UK has a major presence in finacial services and the govt. would be more concerned to keep foreign markets open to UK exports than inf\dulging in protectionism.

There may be a fear about US govt. interference however. There was considerable concern that the US regularly abused its role in COCOM to advantage US companies. UK compaines who bid for contracts with communist countries tended to face unexpected competition from US firms shortly after applying for a COCOM export license.

	Phill