From: Eli Brandt <[ebran d t] at [jarthur.cs.hmc.edu]>
Newsgroups: misc.legal.moderated
Subject: Re: PKP/PGP dispute resolved (was A Question about Patent Law)
Date: 28 May 1994 10:44:51 -0400

In article <2s3mjg$[6 v 9] at [panix.com]>, J. S. Greenfield <[g--ee--y] at [top.cis.syr.edu]> wrote:
>For the record, if I said anything about "public domain" (I hope I didn't)
>it was an error.  I don't believe that any version of PGP is public domain.
>I believe that they are freeware, where some rights are reserved.

There's ample scope for confusion, because the ITAR use the term
"public domain" in a decidedly non-standard fashion:
ITAR 120.11:
	"Public domain means information which is published and
	 which is generally available to the public... [through
	 various means: bookstores, libraries, open conferences]"

PGP is apparently `public domain' in this mutant ITAR sense, given
that it's on public ftp sites world-wide.  But cryptographic items
are considered defense articles whether or not they are in the
`public domain', and ITAR 125.1(a) may not apply.

   Eli   [ebran d t] at [hmc.edu]
         finger for PGP key.
The above text is worth 
precisely its weight in gold.



From: a_rubin%dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin)
Newsgroups: misc.legal.moderated
Subject: Re: PKP/PGP dispute resolved (was A Question about Patent Law)
Date: 27 May 1994 21:15:24 -0400

In <2s0i2v$[g 4 t] at [panix.com]> [b c n] at [world.std.com] (Barry C Nelson) writes:

>Since nothing in the "public domain" requires a license to export, can it
>can be inferred that putting crypto into the public domain is an export,
>for the purpose of ITAR and licenses?  "Public" means that it is available
>at newsstands, bookstores, and public libraries or by subscription.  Is
>an anonymous FTP site a "public library"?

I thought it was "publicly available", rather than "public domain".  The
law (perhaps called the Munitions Act, but perhaps not) which authorizes
the ITAR regulation exempts "publicly available technical data" from export
restrictions.  ITAR, itself, does not.
--
Arthur L. Rubin: [a rubin] at [dsg4.dse.beckman.com] (work) Beckman Instruments/Brea
[216 5888] at [mcimail.com] [70707 453] at [compuserve.com] [a--th--r] at [pnet01.cts.com] (personal)
My opinions are my own, and do not represent those of my employer.