🚀 go-pugleaf

Date Entered: 12-22-92 00:22
bill@texan.rosemount.com (William Hawkins) said, in
Message-ID: <1992Dec21.065550.16784@rosevax.rosemount.com>

B > One kind of DOC license requires the recipient of the software
B > to swear that the software will not be exported to anyone on
B > the restricted list.  You can imagine how much trouble it must
B > be to keep up with the list.  Think about it.  The list is made
B > for geographical boundaries.  When is the last time that a piece
B > of geography threatened you?  Iran is on the forbidden list.  Are
B > there any citizens of Iran outside the geographical borders of
B > that country?  Do they have access to encryption techniques?  I
B > do not mean to pick on Iran, but only to show that the borders
B > have nothing to do with access to information.

Even more interesting is the fact that the restricted list is NOT the 
same between COCOM countries, so that while the US forbids trade with 
CUBA, Canada does not, and what can be exported from the US legally to 
Canada can, under Canadian law be exported to Cuba even if it cannot 
be exported directly from the US.  [That is why Cuban cigars are 
available in Toronto, but not NYC, and why flights to Havanna from 
Moscow stop at Gander to refuel.]  Not only is it legal to export to 
Cuba, it is illegal to discriminate against Cuba or a Cuban simply on 
the basic of nationality.  Assume that I import something from the US 
to my computer store in Toronto, under the rules re the US restricted 
list. How would I determine that the cash paying customer is from 
Cuba, and not allowed to buy the product based on US rules, when 
Canadian rules permit him to buy the product? We're back to reality. 
These rules are unenforcable unless ALL of the COCOM countries have an 
identical list, and they do not.... DOC can complain all they like 
over this one.

Bob Heuman
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