Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li> writes:
* A launch vehicle or payload shall not, by reason of the launching * of such vehicle, be considered an export for purposes of this * subchapter. Okay, everybody, call Estes! We've got some crypto to export...er...laun ch! If I get the above wording correctly (unicorn, help me!), it is sufficient to put the cryptostuff on a disc in a LAUNCHABLE device, it never says that
To: jimbell@pacifier.com Date: Thu Oct 03 08:08:42 1996 the payload has to be delivered by air. So, just put that thing in a bag and get it through customs... (or does "by reason of ..." mean that the exclusive means of export allowed is launching ?)
The launching alone will not cause it to be an export. If it is launched and then ends up outside the U.S., it could be an export. Certainly if it is launched with the purpose of exporting crypto, it will be an export.
This reminds me of something I read about the race in the '50's and the '60's as to whether the US or the USSR would launch the first satellite, the first man in space, etc. The US claimed that a nation's sovereignty ends a few thousand feet into the atmosphere, so they had the right to fly the U2 planes at about 20K ft. The Soviets supposedly kept claiming that everyone's airspace extends many miles beyond the atmosphere, so if any US spy craft flying above Soviet territory will be shot at. Eventually the Soviets launched the first satellite and the first man in space who, for technical reasons, had to fly through the space which the USSR formerly recognized as other country's airspace. Then they suddenly forgot about their claim and didn't even object when US remote sensing satellites flew over the USSR some years later. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps