Re: The Politics of Export Restrictions

[Greg Broiles <gbroiles@netbox.com>]

At 09:44 PM 1/29/97 -0800, Rick Hornbeck wrote:

>Is it possible the unreasonable crypto export restrictions are simply being
>imposed at this time for the purpose of making Al Gore look good when he
>runs for President in 2000?

I suppose it's plausible, but it's an opportunity open to both candidates,
and more plausibly (because of lack of collaboration) to the Republicans -
e.g., Dan Quayle and the "Crypto Freedom For Americans" platform, promising
to rescue Silicon Valley from those evil regulatory Democrats. 

If I were an evil politician trying to set up a trick like you suggest, I
think I'd want a scheme that my opponent(s) couldn't hijack and use against
me.

--
Greg Broiles                | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com         | 
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | Export jobs, not crypto.
                            |