Another Cypherpunks exclusive!
Bowing to US pressure, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has quietly made changes to Japanese crypto export regulations.
In the past, export of crypto products from Japan was unregulated. The exporter had to file a pro-forma export declaration with MITI. The new regulations, imposed in recent weeks without public announcement, require the exporter to state the ultimate recipient of the crypto product. MITI then conducts a lengthy approval process that can take many weeks.
It is widely assumed that the US used the thread of trade sanctions to bring about this 180 degree turn in the attitude of the Japanese government.
How is it "widely assumed" when we have "Cypherpunks exclusive" ... "quietly made changes" ... and "without public annoucement"? -- "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis, _God in the Dock_ +---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+ |Julian Assange RSO | PO Box 2031 BARKER | Secret Analytic Guy Union | |proff@suburbia.net | VIC 3122 AUSTRALIA | finger for PGP key hash ID = | |proff@gnu.ai.mit.edu | FAX +61-3-98199066 | 0619737CCC143F6DEA73E27378933690 | +---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+