Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Unix software and USSR
Message-ID: <13972@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 30 Sep 90 02:25:06 GMT
References: <1990Sep25.145615.29488@hq.demos.su> <4113@altos86.Altos.COM> <807@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 13

In article <807@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan Sandee) writes:
>You are a little confused. U.S. Dept of Commerce regulations forbid the
>export of the DES encryption algorithm (source, binary, or on paper) outside
>of the U.S. or Canada. There is no reason to restrict Unix source code.

That's not correct, either.  You can obtain export licenses for the DES
part of UNIX, but on an individual case basis rather than a blanket
license.  AT&T deemed this not worth the trouble.

In general, "technology transfer" IS a concern, which is why, for example,
Thompson & Condon's BELLE was not allowed to be shipped to Moscow for the
international chess tournament.  I don't know whether or not UNIX is still
on the restricted list for shipping to communist-bloc countries.