[ale] Re: Daniel Bernstein vs. the Justice Department

[Wandered Inn]

Of interest...
 
> http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,0-36217,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni
> 
> Math professor wins landmark crypto ruling
>         By Courtney Macavinta
>         Staff Writer, CNET News.com
>         May 6, 1999, 4:25 p.m. PT
> 
> U.S. export limits on encryption are unconstitutional, the Ninth Circuit
> Court of Appeals ruled in a precedent-setting decision today.
> 
> In a 2-to-1 vote, a federal panel affirmed U.S. District Judge Marilyn
> Patel's 1997 landmark ruling in Daniel Bernstein vs. the Justice
> Department. That decision states that software source code is a language,
> and therefore the export controls violate the University of Illinois math
> professor's First Amendment right.
> 
> Bernstein had wanted to post crypto code on his Web site as part of an
> international course he teaches, but was blocked by a Clinton
> administration policy regulating software cryptotography as falling within
> the interests of national security.
> 
> Today's loss for the government is no doubt a blow to the administration's
> policy. Legal experts say the ruling is a huge endorsement for online
> privacy and essentially applies to anyone who wants to post crypto source
> code--without a license--from within the Ninth Circuit. Although the
> opinion doesn't apply to off-the-shelf products, companies such as Pretty
> Good Privacy (PGP), which is based in California, could get regulatory
> relief, because its source code is freely available around the world.

--
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com

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