From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@upaya.multiverse.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 20:41:05 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Need info! / Re: Export a random number, go to jail
In-Reply-To: <199711040106.CAA04679@basement.replay.com>
Message-ID: <199711051229.HAA09540@upaya.multiverse.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Anonymous writes that I wrote:

: > >If your basis for saying that the U.S. government says that one time
: > >pads are exportable was the governments classification of a one time
: > >that I wrote in DOS assembly language using XOR to munge together the
: > >contents of two files, I don't think that you can rely on that
: > >authority since, at the same time, the government refused to rule that
: > >all one time pads using XOR are not subject to licensing under the
: > >EAR.
: > 
: > "Export a random number, go to jail."

And then asked:

: 
: Is it legal to export '37'?
: How about '148'?
: '276'?
: '3,289,534'?
: '6.33458'?

Perhaps I was not clear enough.  The U.S. government's classifications
that I wrote about had to do with one-time pad programs, not the pads
themselves.  

I know of nothing official that says that the pads themselves are
exportable, but there is nothing in the regulations that suggests they
are not.  Random number and encrypted messages are not regulated by
the U.S. export regulations; only ``encryption software'' is
regulated.  So far as I know the government has never claimed that
one-time pads are, or are not, subject to the export regulations.

If anyone knows of a governmental classification relating to the
export status of one-time pads themselves, I would be very grateful
for a reference.

Thanks,
Peter
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
 EMAIL: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu    URL:  http://samsara.law.cwru.edu   
     NOTE: junger@pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu no longer exists