[Beowulf] Re: "hobbyists"

[Perry E. Metzger]

Jim Lux <James.P.Lux at jpl.nasa.gov> writes:
> In general, fundamental research is not subject to export controls, so
> if you frame your problem in terms of abstract mathematical problems,
> you're not going to be treading on any toes.  However, start
> distributing it as "Jim Lux's superduper encryptor/password cracker,
> now with 1024 bit capability!" and it's moved from fundamental
> research to a product.

Under current rules, provided it is open source or generally available
to any buyer, you can distribute and export cryptographic code quite
freely. There are some minimal reporting requirements, but they're
barely worth mentioning.

That's the reason you can freely distribute things like Kerberos,
OpenSSL, pgp/gpg, etc.


Perry
-- 
Perry E. Metzger		perry at piermont.com