At 3:23 PM 7/21/96, James A. Donald wrote:

At 03:27 PM 7/20/96 -0700, Tom Weinstein wrote:

...

Why not consider what the consequences will be? Do you seriously believe that this will make the government stop enforcing ITAR?

Yes:

Widespread politically motivated disobedience forces the state to either demonize the disobedient, (as with drug users) or give up enforcement. This is a standard and effective method of forcing the repeal of laws, a method which has had a long record of success for several hundred years.

Further, I know someone who saw internal NSA memoranda from their legal folks that court challenges of the ITARs should be avoided if at all possible, as the ITARs would likely be overturned on constitutional grounds. (Not all of them, presumably. Shipment of hardware ("arms") would likely not be affected. But the ITARs that stop the spread of knowledge, published papers, and speech (such as speaking where a foreigner can hear!) would likely be overturned.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."