[Cryptography] Proposed US ITAR changes would require prepublication approval for most crypto research

Peter Fairbrother peter at m-o-o-t.org
Wed Jun 10 21:42:41 PDT 2015


On 10/06/15 07:36, Adrian McCullagh wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I with 4 colleagues of mine (3 at the Queensland University of
> Technology (Cryptographers all)and one from the University of
> Queensland (Legal E-commerce researcher) have been working on a paper
> dealing with the Australian Defence Trade Control Act which corresponds
> to the proposed US ITAR changes.

Sounds interesting,

They are basically trying to reintroduce the "born secret" principle, 
which in US law exists only in an unchallenged part of the Atomic Energy 
Act; though that concept has not been tested against First Amendment 
rights as the only previous case of note (United States v. The 
Progressive, 1979) was dropped by the Government before it reached the 
Supreme Court.

But it's "born again secret" as well as "born secret, again" - it 
applies to all previous technical data, whether widely disseminated or not.


-- Peter Fairbrother



>
> Without giving everything away on our forthcoming paper, it appears to
> me that if this type of regulation had been in place in Germany in 1938,
> then it is highly likely that Einstein would never have read the Hahn -
> Strassmann paper dealing with splitting a uranium atom.  That paper
> written in 1938 (December I believe) was read by Einstein in March 1939
> and it directly lead to Einstein sending a letter to Roosevelt, which in
> turn resulted in 1942 to the establishment of the Manhattan project.
> Now if NAZI Germany had restricted that publication NAZI Germany could
> have developed the bomb itself which could have completely altered the
> outcome.
>
> Basically, if regimes like the DCTA/ITAR rules are expanded then it
> works both ways and there could be a stifling of publication research
> due to bureaucratic mishandling.  Though it could assist in the spy
> business as in the cold war.
>
>
> Dr. Adrian McCullagh
> Ph.D. LL.B.(Hons) B. App. Sc. (Computing)
> ODMOB Lawyers
> Mobile 0401 646 486
> Skype.   Admac57
> E: ajmccullagh57 at gmail.com
> E: amccullagh at live.com
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> *From:* alfiej at fastmail.fm <mailto:alfiej at fastmail.fm>
> *Sent:* ‎Wednesday‎, ‎10‎ ‎June‎ ‎2015 ‎1‎:‎54‎ ‎PM
> *To:* Cryptography Mailing List <mailto:cryptography at metzdowd.com>,
> cypherpunks at cpunks.org <mailto:cypherpunks at cpunks.org>
>
> Snap, from Australia:
>
> http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/dangerous-minds-are-maths-teachers-australias-newest-threat-20150608-ghira9.html
>
>      "Australian academics who teach mathematics may need to run new
>      ideas by the Department of Defence before sharing them or risk
>      imprisonment.
>
>      Some academics are set to become much more familiar with the
>      department's Defence Export Control Office (DECO), a unit that
>      enforces the Defence Trade Control Act 2012, Australia's end of a
>      2007 pact with the US and UK over defence trade.
>
>      Until recently, DECO only regulated physically exported weapons and
>      so-called "dual use" items such as encryption, computing hardware
>      and biological matter.
>
>      However in March the act was updated to include "intangible supply",
>      which is intended to prohibit the transfer of knowledge from
>      Australia that could be used to produce weapons."
>
> Alfie
>
> On Tue, Jun 9, 2015, at 05:36 PM, pete wrote:
>  > Proposed US ITAR changes. New regs, for comment, not yet in law or
>  > in force.
>  >
>  >
> http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nra-gun-blogs-videos-web-forums-threatened-by-new-obama-regulation/article/2565762
>  >
>  > www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-06-03/pdf/2015-12844.pdf
> <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-06-03/pdf/2015-12844.pdf>
>  >
>  >
>  > Actually, it says, for the first time explicitly, that publishing
>  > widely on the internet would be enough to put data into the
>  > public domain
>  > [000]. Sounds good?
>  >
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