🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan7.083740.6128@qualcomm.com> karn@servo.qualcomm.com (Phil Karn) writes:
>In article <1993Jan07.075317.15435@convex.com> hamrick@convex.com (Ed Hamrick) writes:
>>The attached information clearly states that publicly available software
>>is freely exportable.  There aren't ANY weasel words about types of software.
>
>Unfortunately, the information attached applies specifically to the
>Commerce Department's "Core List" controls, *not* to the State
>Department's ITARs (International Traffic in Arms Regulations). In
>theory, the Core List controls "dual use" technologies (stuff with
>both military and civilian uses, general purpose computer hardware
>being the classic example) while the ITARs are supposed to regulate
>only munitions (i.e., pure weapons, a Stinger missile being the
>classic example.)

To simplify the discussion, and to remove any licensing issues that crop
up when discussing RSA, consider whether DES software is exportable.
To simplify even further, consider the question of whether a printed
book available at B. Daltons book store which contains a printed copy of
source code that implements DES encryption is exportable.  I maintain
that this book can be exported under the license I mentioned.  I
further maintain that this book and it's contents are uninteresting to
the State Department and NSA once it has been made available to the
public.  This institutional disinterest is codified in the description of
the type of information that is freely exportable.

The reasons for this institutional disinterest seem obvious, but
maybe I'm missing something subtle.

If you agree that this printed book is exportable, then few would
disagree that a magnetic tape containing this source code is exportable.
If you agree that the source code on tape is exportable, then few
would disagree that the compiled version of this source code is exportable.

Note all of the language in the regulations regarding pre-publication
review.  When you read the regulations, they clearly indicate that once
information is publicly available (can be obtained in a library/bookstore),
then the cat is out of the bag and the information is exportable.  I
believe that the Commerce Department, State Department, and NSA are
completely uninterested in preventing the export of anything that's
available to anybody at B. Dalton's bookstore.

Anonymous ftp is fully equivalent to B. Dalton's bookstore or a
public library.

Note that this discussion has nothing to do with the exportability
of integrated hardware/software crypto solutions.  My premise is
primarily that the book containing the DES source code is freely
exportable because it is publicly available information.

Regards,
Ed Hamrick