Re: restrictions to exports

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004, wiki pedista wrote:

> It has often been argued that, apart from technical
> reasons, the location of the wikipedia servers in the
> United States is convenient because of the high degree
> to which free speech is protected.
>
> However, a colaborator of another wiki enciclopedia
> has argued that the restrictions to exports by the
> US could hamper the writing or distribution of some
> computer or electronic related articles to some
> countries. Is this reasonable?

As far as I know these laws (but I hardly know them, so please somone
correct me as I likely am wrong), no. The restriction is only on programs
and such, not on information. As far as I know the export of algorithms
such as DES is not forbidden, it only is forbidden for keys of a certain
length or longer. Wikipedia might show the algorithm, but that is key-size
independent information, and thus seems to not fall under those laws.

Again, this is more gut feeling than actual knowledge, so don't trust me
too much...

Andre Engels