At 08:55 PM 10/1/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

At 8:32 PM -0800 10/1/96, jim bell wrote:

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At 09:39 AM 10/1/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

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(Else what's to stop Giant Corporation from using Non-GAKked software within the U.S., which is perfectly legal (under the "voluntary" system), but then "happening" to have their foreign branches and customers obtain "bootleg" versions at their end? All it takes is a single copy to get out, and be duplicated a zillion times. Voila, interoperability, with the only "crime" being the first export...which is essentially impossible to stop, for so many reasons we mention so often. Conclusion: Government must make this very mode illegal, perhaps by making it a conspiracy to thwart the export laws....)

If this solution were really practical, it would have been tried already.

And just what would you call PGP?

The "impractical" I was referring to is the impracticality of the government implementing and enforcing restrictions on communications using (non-GAK) crypto. The only place this seems to exist is in ham radio. The crypto itself is eminently practical, as the PGP example makes absolutely clear.

Long before the MIT deal, people in the U.S. were using their "OK in America" (not counting RSADSI's issues) software to communicate with "illegally exported" copies in foreign lands.

This model--leaking a U.S. version and then communicating freely between U.S. sites and the "leakee" sites--worked for PGP. I believe the USG fears this will happen again.

Hence my speculation that they may try to illegalize the mere communication with an offending product.

"I predict they won't be able to do it." Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com