MIT harassed over publication of PGP book

[David Sternlight]

At 3:09 PM -0700 7/20/96, Duncan Frissell wrote:
>At 02:06 AM 7/10/96 EDT, Hal Abelson wrote:
>>
>>Now, we learn of a back channel communication from State to DOE to
>>Sandia, which has prompted Sandia to want to act as a policeman for
>>MIT vis a vis export controls.
>>
>>This is troubling for what it says about how the State Department is
>>dealing with export issues surrounding information about cryptography,
>>and about the extent to which policies are being administered in a
>>clear and above-board manner.
>
>A blue ribbon panel of Ivy League administrators warned in the mid 1950s
>that Universities which accepted public funds would lose their independence
>and become mere functionaries of the federal government.  They were right
>and you all had fair warning.
>

As Hal Abelson should well know, at least the undergraduates at MIT used to
call the John T. Dorrance Lab (a big food sciences building) "the
Campbell's Soup Lab". It's not just government.

David