From: gdale@apple.com (Geoff Dale)

Does anybody have pointers to the actual statutes prohibiting transmitting encrypted data across international boundries.

I had an argument with somebody who didn't think this was illegal.

This is similar to the question `do any countries prohibit certain kinds of cryptography' that arose after the Clipper announcement suggested that some do. The FCC prohibits the use of codes in amateur radio transmissions, and violations are sufficient to revoke the license. This is enforced by legislation. Also, various countries have rules against using encryption in telegrams. I believe Australia has one, and also Britain. Or maybe it was that Australia had an `official' code under which other codes were illegal. The question is, how are these enforced in practice? I'd like to see a bit of information from the experts on this. What constitutes `codes'? A friend operator told me that, unusual statements, non sequiturs, qualified. Have any operators lost their licenses this way? What is the enforcement like? On a related subject, I recall the discussion here a few months ago about `numbers stations' (or was it sci.crypt?). These are broadcast frequencies where the announcer simply reads off long lists of numbers. They are used for encrypted communication to clandestine operatives, etc. Apparently most are Iron Curtain originating, from what I understand. I saw on TV (nightly news) that there was a great deal of hullaballoo about using the VOA (Voice of America) to send secret communications. A director told a disk jockey to play a certain song and say that it was for a request from `country [x]' where [x] was a very obscure locality in Russia, and the song was unusual. Apparently a disk jockey complained about the practice, and a previous director was against it. A new director was not unequivocally against the practice. There was disagreement on whether the VOA charter allowed it (private analysts saying emphatically no, shady slippery shifty-eyed gov't types saying `well, ...'). If anyone else can expand on this one I'd appreciate it.