> if a law was broken. And Sternlight is right -- if they decide to i ndict, > they may throw in charges of importing IDEA ... THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST THE IMPORT OF CRYPTOGRAPHY! How many times does this idiocy have to be squashed? Perhaps not now, but the statutory and regulatory provisions exist:
From the ITAR:
120.1 -- General authorities and eligibility. (a) Section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) authorizes the President to control the export and import of defense articles and defense services. 120.5 -- Relation to regulations of other agencies. If an article or service is covered by the U.S. Munitions List, its export is regulated by the Department of State, except as indicated otherwise in this subchapter. For the relationship of this subchapter to regulations of the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, see ^U 123.20 of this subchapter. The Treasury Department controls permanent imports of articles and services covered by the U.S. Munitions Import List from foreign countries by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction (31 CFR part 505). 123.2 -- Import jurisdiction. The Department of State regulates the temporary import of defense articles. Permanent imports of defense articles into the United States are regulated by the Department of the Treasury (see 27 CFR parts 47, 178 and 179). etc. I confess that I don't happen to have a copy of the Munitions Import List. Are you certain that crypto gear isn't on it? Are you certain it wasn't added last week? Or next? But the same authority -- dubious though it may be -- that lets them ban export of crypto would let them ban import if they chose to try. John PS: I heard a rumor it's against the law to breathe. Only if there's a coded message in the timing.