On Tue, 7 Nov 1995 14:52:33 +0100 (GMT+0100), you wrote:
On Tue, 7 Nov 1995, Peter D. Junger wrote:
From Section 120.17 of the ITAR which provides:
_Export_ means: . . . . (4) Disclosing (including oral or visual disclosure) or transfering technical data to a foreign person, whether in the United States or abroad . . . .
The ITAR is U.S.-Law. This only applies (by definition) to US-citizens or persons in the U.S.!
I think it's a common mistake of many Americans that they believe creating law means creating law for the whole world!
The what U.S. law says and what U.S. officials can enforce are two different things. You are in violation of ITAR if you send crypto software from Mexico to Europe over the INTERNET if it is routed through the U.S.. Think of it like drugs being shipped through the U.S., the drug lord that sent it throught is just as guilt under U.S. law as the mule that is carrying it. The problem is that ITAR was not writen to take the current situation into consideration. It is writen to deal with physical equipment and concepts that only a small number of people understand. Given those perameters ITAR would work, but given the current climate of readily available crypto software and wide spread understanding of crypto technologies ITAR cannot do what it was designed to do.
Go read the section that I quoted again. Where is there an exception for foreign persons who happen to be abroad?
It's inherent. You simply can't apply US-law to non-US-citizens outside the U.S.!
Quite to the contrary, U.S. law applies whereever the U.S. can enforce it. Their are many U.S. laws that the U.S. attempts to enforce outside the U.S.. One example is that the U.S. law allows the abduction of those who have murdered U.S. citizens outside the United States. This law is in place in an attempt to protect U.S. citizens from terorism. If you do not believe me just ask Manuel Noriega (sp?). Dan Weinstein djw@pdcorp.com http://www.earthlink.net/~danjw PGP public key is available from my Home Page. All opinions expressed above are mine. "I understand by 'freedom of Spirit' something quite definite - the unconditional will to say No, where it is dangerous to say No. Friedrich Nietzsche