Actually I am a lawyer...hehe... With the recent talk and action regarding the hooks for crypto in certain very valuable (or at least of increasing value) programs available on the net and elsewhere I find myself getting increasingly angry about the discourse and especially the arrogance of the parties involved. As a lawyer, I often send demand letters first in cases where the chances of winning a case in court are small and the ability for my client to withstand extended billing is low. In short, I send these letters as a weak effort backed up by little intent on pursuing the case (NOTE: I did not say no intent, I often do pursue cases with little or no money in them, and that explains why my school loans are not paid off 8-). What I am saying is that these demand letters that are being sent, especially regarding tenuous positions such as programs with crypto hooks are ITAR restricted, are causing more damage then they need to. I am not suggesting that Wei distribute his libraries and bare the brunt of prosecution. But I am certain there are bigger institutional players out there that can. I can not say we would take the case without obviously speaking with our management committee at my firm, but we often take on cases that will lose us money if they break into new areas of the law. Someone must be on this list whom in good faith, honestly believes that the ITAR restrictions dont apply to every piece of software on the net. While I can not and am not advocating breaking the law, nor am I soliciting business because I am sending to a general email list, If someone is interested in a challenge other than Phil Zimmerman's let me know. I also will not pursue anything without the relevant author's permission, obviously. I am not intending to get people in trouble here. I just feel that their stance on the law is weak at best and feel there has to be someone out there willing to take the chance. Matt Miszewski Attorney at Law matt@midex.com