At 12:32 PM -0800 1/12/98, Tim May wrote:
Only a very few types of research are banned. And these are all ostensibly "national security" areas. Namely, chemical and biological warfare research, heavily regulated (private companies can do such research, but only with government approval, supervision, and generally _for_ the government). And nuclear weapons research (probably as part of the Atomic Energy Act).
(If anyone can think of other "bans on research," besides weapons areas, let me know.)
Before others point this out, there are certain types of "public safety" laws about what one can research or do. Laws about explosives, dangerous chemicals, and pathogens. (The "ban on recombinant DNA research," following the Asilomar Conference in 1975, was a voluntary ban, and thus not a ban in the sense I am using here. And it last only a couple of years, until more could be learned about the potential danges of recombinant DNA work.) Please respond to my main points, if you respond at all, not to these side points. --Tim May The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^2,976,221 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."