your mail

[Paul Bradley]

> I'm in El Paso Texas... so close to the border
> I can see Old Mex outside my window as I write this..
> I'm over there nearly every day for lunch ( I actually
> walk there from my house it's so close) If I write
> a crypto program on my laptop over there and ftp
> it to a web page I have on a server outside the US
> will I have avoided the foolish export regs??
> Does anyone know of someone trying this before?? 


Well, how do you plan on ftping it, if you use a PCMCIA modem car and a  
cellular phone and the cell it transmits to is in the US it could be 
argued that you exported crypto because the data went 
mexico->USA->elsewhere, however, using a normal land-line would be 
totally legal, having said that the program would have to be written 
outside the US, not just carried out on a laptop then ftp`d as otherwise 
you`ve exported. Overall I would recomment flouting the export laws, as 
jumping through hoops to obey these regulations merely panders to the 
wishes of the authorities, anyway, how likely do you think you are to get 
caught? 

        Datacomms Technologies data security
       Paul Bradley, Paul at fatmans.demon.co.uk
  Paul at crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul at cryptography.uk.eu.org    
       Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/
      Email for PGP public key, ID: FC76DA85
     "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"