Re: Regulation of citizen-alien communications (Was: Choices)

At 1:01 PM 2/11/96, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:

>As I read it, a college professor might get busted for explaining his own new
>crypto research to a class where some students happen not to be U.S. citizens.

Considering that most engineering and computer science classses are
approaching 50 percent non-U.S.-citizen, and considering that no such
professors have yet been busted, I'm inclined to think this is a
non-threat.

(Indeed, it's a _potential_ threat, and one we should bear in mind, but it
seems likely that no such prosecutions have occurred or will occur.)

What we talk about every day on this list and the non-prosecution of any of
us should be evidence about where the real emphasis is. (The investigation
of Zimmermann and Goen was related to the appearance on foreign shores of a
real chunk of code, PGP 1.0, and not simple communication with aliens.)


>Of course we all know this already. Just some U.S. people prefer to ignore the
>mote in their own eye and to fight censorship in exotic remote developing
>countries. Do you remember how U.S. Gov't tried to prevent the publications of
>research papers on zero-knowledge proofs?

No, could you provide some details? Who was pressured? Micali? Goldwasser?
Rackoff? Please share the details.

There has been an ineffective "voluntary review" process for academic
researchers, and perhaps this is what Dimitri is referring to. But this did
not stop the publication of the ZKIPS work a decade or so ago.

--Tim May

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) writes:
> At 1:01 PM 2/11/96, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
>
> >As I read it, a college professor might get busted for explaining his own ne
> >crypto research to a class where some students happen not to be U.S. citizen
>
> Considering that most engineering and computer science classses are
> approaching 50 percent non-U.S.-citizen, and considering that no such
> professors have yet been busted, I'm inclined to think this is a
> non-threat.
>
> (Indeed, it's a _potential_ threat, and one we should bear in mind, but it
> seems likely that no such prosecutions have occurred or will occur.)

I have anecdotal evidence (which I don't want to share) that certain college
teachers are reluctant to discuss state-of-the art crypto research in class
because they feel they're not supposed to share it with foreign students. It
may not be a fear of prosecution as much as the belief that it's against the
intent of the laws.

> >Of course we all know this already. Just some U.S. people prefer to ignore t
> >mote in their own eye and to fight censorship in exotic remote developing
> >countries. Do you remember how U.S. Gov't tried to prevent the publications
> >research papers on zero-knowledge proofs?
>
> No, could you provide some details? Who was pressured? Micali? Goldwasser?
> Rackoff? Please share the details.
>
> There has been an ineffective "voluntary review" process for academic
> researchers, and perhaps this is what Dimitri is referring to. But this did
> not stop the publication of the ZKIPS work a decade or so ago.

I recall that the (in)voluntary review process did slow down the publication of
ZKP by a year or so. Rather than rely on my memory, I'll dig up the exact
details and will most definitely get back to you.

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps