I've written a few Perl routines for public-key cryptography. I'd like to freely disseminate the source code (starting with ElGamal) to as many people as I can,

It's my understanding that there are two orthogonal restrictions:

1) ITAResque: I can't give code to non-U.S. citizens. 2) PKPesque: Using public-key crypto is an infringement, although disseminating/possessing the source code is not.

While I'm sure these are oversimplifications, it would seem that I can release my source code over the Internet provided I install a simple verification mechanism (cf. MIT's PGP distribution) to ensure that only people claiming to be U.S. citizens have access privileges.

Am I correct? If so, why aren't more people doing this?

The plaintiff in the case, Daniel J. Bernstein, Research Assistant Professor at >the University of Illinois at Chicago, developed an "encryption algorithm" (a recipe or set of instructions) that he wanted to publish in printed >journals as well as on the Internet. Bernstein sued the government, claiming that the government's requirements that he register as an >arms dealer and seek government permission before publication was a violation of his First Amendment right of free speech. This is required by >the Arms Export Control Act and its implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

In the first phase of this litigation, the government argued that since Bernstein's >ideas were expressed, in part, in computer language (source code), they were not protected by the First Amendment. On April 15, 1996, >Judge Patel rejected that argument and held for the first time

People do do this, but if you are using RSA or other methods patented in the US, you might want to look at them. Is the concept of PK cryptography patented? And of course you are familiar with Bernstein v DoS... [http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/Bernstein_v_DoS/HTML/bernstein_961218 _pressrel.html] that

computer source code is protected speech for purposes of the First Amendment.

...here Perl has the advantage of being a scripting language, and so by default comes as source, though if you had written the routines in a scripting langauge like Python, you might find it easier to convince a judge that it was in fact human readable... -- John "BTW IANAL" Lehmann