Re: Netscape

[The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com>]

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On Sat, 20 Jul 1996, jim bell wrote:

> >> Do you Seriously Believe that Netscape would prefer foreigners
> >> to develop and use competing products? Of course not. They are
> >> probably secretly applauding the brave exporters.
> >
> >You are wrong.  We are worried that our permission to provide these
> >products will be withdrawn. 
> 
> As far as I can tell, you need no "permission" to "provide these products", 
> at least domestically.  The only restrictions that have been implied have 
> been over the delivery of encryption over the 'net, and even that is 
> questionable.
> 

If even that much.  Most of the "permission" i've heard of was infered at
best.  The NSA, nor anybody else, has the _legal_ power to stop you from
putting crypto on the Web, on FTP, or anywere else, so long as you do not
_willingly_ give it to foreign citizens.  If some non-citizen downloads it,
and said they were a US citizen, its not your fault. you THOUGHT you were
giving it to a citizen, which is all the law actually requires.  Of
course, if anybody like Netscape actually had the guts to take this to
court, arguing that ITAR doesn't cover Crypto, the ACLU and other such
would probably back them, and it'd stand a fair chance.  Unfortunatly,
everybody in a position to do this has decided they'd rather not risk
having presidence (sp?) that this _was_ covered under ITAR, of which there
is none.

 --Deviant


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