-----Original Message----- From: ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Noel Chiappa Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 4:03 PM To: ietf@xxxxxxxx Cc: jnc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Legality of IETF meetings in PRC. Was: Re: Request for communityguidance on issue concerning a future meeting of the IETF > > From: Michael StJohns <mstjohns@xxxxxxxxxxx> > > For the PRC we've been told (in black and white as part of a legal > > document - not as anecdotal information) that a) certain acts and > > topics of discussion are forbidden by law or contract ... > > ... > > With respect to ... any of our hosts in the past, show me the contract > > language, laws, or other indication where things normally discussed or > > designed at an IETF would be considered illegal. >Interesting point. I can recall a number of countries with _export_ >restrictions on some things, and perhaps one with a _use_ restriction, but I >can't think of one where "discuss[ion] or design[ing]" anything would have >been prohibited. Did I too miss one? > Noel Since people mostly use crypto technology as a straw-man for something they think it is illegal to discuss in China, I googled "Cryptography Conference China" which yields at least the following: http://books.google.com/books?id=2IrIh6sYl8cC&dq=cryptography+conference +china&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=-FSbcy9jzf&sig=PycGmAPHcpqrTzDL 79R1pERBFmM&hl=en&ei=PKfPSo72HZOoNv3YhfEE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false, proceedings of the 5th International Conference, Applied Cryptography and Network Security (2007) http://books.google.com/books?id=k9g8nEfe7fcC&dq=cryptography+conference +china&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=RyB0ytWPpo&sig=JBHhOhIkMRgkRsN5 P2IjFK_n88I&hl=en&ei=PKfPSo72HZOoNv3YhfEE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=7&ved=0CBkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=&f=false, proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Practice and Theory in Public Key Cryptography, Beijing, China, April 2007 It is probably safe to say that it is not illegal to discuss cryptography in China. Googling "firewall security conference china" yields at least the following: http://sites.google.com/site/asergrp/projects/policy which contains further a list of publications and conferences held in China (Shanghai and Beijing), some IEEE/IFIP, for example, 1st IEEE international workshop on security in software engineering held in Beijing in 2007. It is probably also safe to say that it is not illegal to discuss firewall, software security in China. Thanks, Jerry -- Jerry Huang, AT&T Labs, +1 630 810 7679 (+1 630 719 4389, soon) _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf