Exports and criminalizing crypto

[Peter Trei]

[lot of snipping]
Adam Back <aba at dcs.ex.ac.uk> writes:
> 
> John Smith <jsmith58 at hotmail.com> writes:
> >
> > That's easy for you to say, there in England.  You don't have these
> > export controls, right?  
> 
> We have different export controls.  You can export what you want
> electronically right now.  And, so I hear, the exporter is defined as
> the person who downloads from your web site, so lots of hits from Iraq
> is no problem.  Start to talk about tangible things and you require a
> license. 
 
> Adam

This is my favorite example of the Kafka-esque absurdity of
export controls

>From England, I can export strong crypto electronically with no 
problem. The same crypto, printed as source code, is restricted.

>From the US, I can export printed strong crypto with no problem.
The same crypto, in electronic form, is export restricted.

Both sides claim to have a rational, well-thought out policy.

Peter Trei