Commodity Jurisdiction success for Kerberos Bones!

[gnu (John Gilmore)]

(            )				United States Department of State
( State Dept )				Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs
(    Logo    )				Office of Defense Trade Controls
(            )
					Washington, D.C. 20522-0602

In reply refer to			   Feb  1 1994
OTDC Case:  CJ-012-94

YOUR LETTER DATED:   January 13, 1994

REQUEST FOR COMMODITY JURISDICTION FOR:  "Kerberos 900104
bones.tar.Z patchlevel 6" software program

This commodity jurisdiction (CJ) request was referred to the 
Departments of Commerce and Defense for their review and
recommendations.  As a result, the Department of State has
determined that the referenced commodity falls under the licensing 
jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce.  Please consult that
agency's Office of Technology and Policy Analysis at (202) 482-4145
to determine their requirements prior to export.

Should you require further assistance on this matter, please contact
Maj. Gary Oncale at (703) 875-5655.

			Sincerely,

			   (signed -- but it doesn't look 
			    anything like the name below)

			William B. Robinson
			Director
			Office of Defense Trade Controls






John Gilmore
Cygnus Support
1937 Landings Drive
Mt. View, CA 94043

		-- end of letter from State Department --

Now, what does it mean that we got a Commodity Jurisdiction for the
Kerberos Bones?

It means that the State Department has formally excused itself from
worrying about us exporting the Bones.  If the Commerce Department lets
us do it, it's fine with the State Department.  Exporting the Bones
will not violate the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
(Doing so might still violate other laws -- the State Dept has
expressed no opinion on that.)

This is no surprise, since the Kerberos Bones were deliberately
emasculated to remove anything that might cause the State Department or
the NSA to get upset.  The letter just confirms that that effort was a
success.

I will do a formal check with the Commerce Department, as suggested in
the State Department letter.  My current understanding is that under
Commerce rules (the Export Administration Act), publicly available
software can be exported to any destination.

In particular, I believe this means that there's nothing to fear from
putting up the Bones for ordinary FTP.  (There's a serious First
Amendment issue being debated, over whether export control laws can
prevent you from publishing software via FTP at all -- but even the
most paranoid should now figure it's not an issue for the Bones.)

I encourage people and companies who are interested in export issues
to submit a commodity jurisdiction request for some software that you
want to export, and go through the process.  In public.  The State
Department and NSA don't publish their guidelines for what is exportable
and what isn't, so the only way we-the-public are going to find out
is by asking, and then telling each other.

I've set up an FTP archive of such information on
ftp://ftp.cygnus.com/pub/export.  It includes `cjr.kit', which is the
info you need to file your own CJ Requests, and three files regarding
Commerce Department licensing.  `commerce.gtda.license.faq' in
particular is a FAQ from the Commerce Department about when the General
license for Technical Data to All destinations lets you export without
any paperwork.
-- 
John Gilmore                gnu@toad.com  --  gnu@cygnus.com  --  gnu@eff.org
Can we talk in private?        Join me in the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Not if the FBI and NSA have their way.            Ask membership@eff.org how.