Illegal export of crypto
I must speak, before things go too far.
I work for a major law enforcement organization. When I was
hired, I took an oath to uphold the laws of the jurisdiction I
was in - which includes the United States and the state I am in,
as well as the municipality.
I am _required_ - by my own moral code, having taken that oath -
and by the laws of this state, in certain circumstances - to
report illegal activity. I have _barely_ enough leeway, in both
cases, to be able to say that if I can't provide _proof_, I am
not obligated to report it. And in some cases, I don't even have
that leeway - for example, if I have reason to _suspect_ that a
child is being abused, I am required to report it.
These obligations hold whether I agree with the law in question
or not. Under the circumstances, I must advise the members of
this list - most especially Ralf - to _not_ discuss this matter
on the list, or even assert a willingness or intent to violate
any laws. Take it to private mail, if you must discuss it; that
way, I will not be seeing it, and will not be obligated to report
it.
That said, there is a major loophole in the crypto laws that Ralf
has stated his disagreement with: It is perfectly legal to
export the source code in _printed_ form, i.e., on lots of paper.
Yes, it's an asinine difference, especially given the ease of
converting back and forth. However, the distinction has been
upheld in U.S. courts, over the objections of the U.S.
Government. I can avoid the need to report the intended
violation of the law by noting that I am assuming that Ralf's
intent, as a law-abiding citizen, was to simply take the
necessary information from an interested party so that he could
mail out a source book for the program/library in question.
However, if it becomes clear that this is _not_ the intent, I
will be obligated to report it. Don't force me into that
distasteful position.
--
Jeff Zeitlin
jzeitlin at cyburban.com
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