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S. 1284, s1201: "No person shall import, manufacture or distribute any device, product, or component incorporated into a device or product, or offer or perform any service, the primary purpose or ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

IANAL, but I thought these types of laws were already tested and deemed unconstitutional in cases involving video-tape copying boxes, dual video cassette dubbing decks, SCMS 'scrubbers', etc...

I think the large gray area here is the phrase primary purpose. The primary purpose of a device is in the users mind only. Videotape copying of noncopyright materials is done on a vast scale now due to home camcorders. But even if only a few people had camcorders they should be able to purchase equipment that can be used legally. Introducing the concept of "primary purpose" makes law abiding citizens suffer because some people are breaking the law. If an item has any legal purpose it must be allowed. This trend to take technology that *can* be used to commit crimes out of the hands of citizen units is growing. We see it with crypto export controls and recently with the PA law and Federal law making it a crime to posess devices and software to reprogram cell phones. When this doesn't make a dent in the number of these crimes I predict we will see licensing of technologies such as eeprom programmers, spectrum analyzers, frequency counters, and yes of course strong crypto. Weld Pond - weld@l0pht.com - http://www.l0pht.com/~weld L 0 p h t H e a v y I n d u s t r i e s Technical archives for the people - Bio/Electro/Crypto/Radio