--On Friday, October 09, 2009 17:03 -0400 Noel Chiappa <jnc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > 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, I don't think it moves the discussion forward one way or the other, but I can certainly remember times in the US in which discussions of certain types of cryptographic topics with foreign nationals present was treated as export of cryptographic technology and subject to all sorts of restrictions as a result. It may have been an export restriction rather than a discussion restriction, but the practical difference was zero. You could quite properly and correctly respond that there was a lot of resistance from the relevant communities and that the period of prior restraint on papers to be presented at such meetings didn't last very long, but it did occur. Similarly, if one assumed that I had learned enough as an undergraduate and from the public literature (i.e., without depending on any security clearances or other special access) to have a fairly good idea how to build a nuclear weapon and what the key parameters are, I think I would still be violating US law to stand up in a public meeting and describe how to do it. Certainly that would have been the case some years ago; I haven't spent a lot of time (or any time at all) tracking the evolution of law and regulations in that area. I think the Chinese situation is different, largely because of the meeting cancellation and hotel discretionary provisions (and, since Ole and others have told us several times that the IAOC is working on a different plan in those areas, I'm trying to sit quietly until I see what that process comes up with). Certainly different governments are going to be sensitive about different things (and fewer or more of them). But I don't think it helps to exaggerate the differences by suggesting that there are no restrictions on discussion of sensitive topics anywhere else in the world. best, john _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf