Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!decvax!ucbvax!hplabs!well!sac
From: sac@well.UUCP (Steve Cisler)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: distribution of sensitive software like DES
Message-ID: <5254@well.UUCP>
Date: 18 Feb 88 04:02:25 GMT
References: <8801281211.AA13780@decwrl.dec.com> <8802162241.AA16997@armagnac.DEC.COM>
Reply-To: sac@well.UUCP (Steve Cisler)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 17


I would like to comment on section 120.18(d). I work for a county library
that was granted a free account on The WELL (including Usenet access).
It has been available to the general public intermittently. Perhaps we
are the window of opportunity for John Gilmore.

I plan to forward the message by the DEC fine print boys to the American
Library Association. They have taken a strong interest in the Dept. of
Commerce's restrictions, in Admiral Poindexter's directives and other
acts that would limit the free flow of information.  To sum up their (our)
argument: hostile powers will get the information they need in spite of
export bans and re-classifying information, but the danger to the
research communities in the U.S. will be quite apparent when the cloak
of secrecy inhibits information exchange and curtails technological
advances that, so far, have made the U.S. stand out.

Steve Cisler