Quote:
Originally Posted by barnacle
Also, there is the rather odd circumstance with such as encryption software, which even in simple forms is considered to be a military weapon. As such, a US citizen (as I understand it) can download encryption developed and published outside the US, as can I, but I cannot download that same software from a US citizen. DRM is essentially encryption software, so there are certainly cases where something illegal in the US could be legal in other territories.
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And vice versa. The situation vis-a-vis encryption software changed in the US during the 90's. Although it's still listed as weapons tech & therefore requires an export license, the regs prohibiting the granting of export licenses to anything stronger than 40-bit encryption (IIRC) have been repealed. Now, all encryption software is *eligible* for an export license. Doesn't mean all of it has an export license, and if it doesn't then it's still illegal to sell/give it to 'aliens'. But that's more of a failure on the part of whoever's selling it now. If they jump thru the proper paperwork hoops they can (probably) get the license. If they really come up with something new (like an 'encryption' method that prevents others from even detecting the signal) then I'd guess that all bets are off.