"Technical data" exemptions in new crypto regs

[Declan McCullagh <declan@pathfinder.com>]

[Can anyone who knows more than I do answer this? --Declan]

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Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 14:45:44 -0500 (EST)
To: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)
From: Solveig Bernstein <sberns@cato.org>

What have the new crypto regs done to the "technical data" and the "public
domain" exemptions from ITAR?

The problem is this:  as I understand it, the Commerce Dept. regs exempt
teaching and print presentations generally, but these exemptions do not
apply to "encryption software."

Does this mean that the exemptions do not apply to *teaching about*
encryption software or *publications about* encryption software?  Or *only*
that the exemptions do not apply to diskette-contained source code or object
code.

In other words, the new regs might completely decontrol teaching and
publication of something like Professor Bernstein's Snuffle.

On the other hand, the new regs might, like ITAR, restrict teaching and
publication of Snuffle (as well as publication of source code in diskette
format).

The purpose of the question is to understand whether a First Amendment
challenge to the new regs is a First Amendment challenge to a restriction on
*teaching, publication, and program distribution* or just a challenge to a
restriction on *program distribution.*


Solveig Bernstein, Esq.
(202) 789-5274
(202) 842-3490 (fax)

Assistant Director of Telecommunications & Technology Studies
Cato Institute
1000 Mass. Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001


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