EFF "Legal Cases - Crypto - Karn v. US Dept. of State" Archive

Files in this Archive

book_1st.request

initial request to transfer jurisdiction from State Dept. (who routinely deny export approval) to Commerce Dept. (who routinely approve) for Bruce Schneier's _Applied_Cryptography_ book, published by John Wiley & Sons. The book, and later separately available diskette, are clearly exportable, and clearly are the jurisdiction of the Commerce Dept.

book_1st.response

Request granted, as book is "public domain" and out- side State jurisdiction. State dept. specifically states that a special 2-disk set of related code available from Schneier is not covered by the ruling (not to be confused with the diskette that is the subject of the 2nd request, below) which contains only source code that is in the book, approved for export in hardcopy).

floppy_2nd.request

Attempt to convince State dept. to transfer control of the single floppy that was created and distributed separately as an adjunct to the book, (containing only source code that is in the book, approved for export in hardcopy) to the Commerce Dept...

floppy_3rd.request

Phil Karn filed his 2nd CJR (floppy_2nd.request) on March 8, 1994, as soon as he got the response to the first one, but the State Department tarried long beyond their 15-working-day limit for telling Phil whether he can export this floppy or not. Phil sent in this further request that they answer him, Apr. 19, 94. He also kept calling them, and Alan Suchinsky of the Office of Defense Trade Controls returned his call on May 10th, saying that the response had been rewritten twice but was going to be finalized that week.

floppy_2nd.response

Request denied! State holds that they have jurisdiction, and that the material is *not* public domain, protected by the 1st Amendment, or exportable. Authors maintain this is "nonsense", and that this is unconstitutional. State says that "The text files on the subject disk are not an exact representation of what is found in 'Applied Cryptography.' Each source code listing has been partitioned into its own file and has the capability of being easily compiled into an executable subroutine." As a result, "This article is designated as a defense article under category XIII(b)(1) of the United States Munitions List." In other words, State maintains that because the source code is in several files instead of jumbled into one file, it is therefore "not an exact representation" of the original, and makes it fairly plain that the real reason for denying the CJR is because it is useful for its intended purpose (e.g. easy to compile, as opposed the text in the book, which would have to by typed in manually.)

floppy.appeal

Phil filed an appeal on June 9, 1994, challenging both the details of the distinction between the paper and floppy versions and the Constitutionality of restricting the export of the floppy version.

karn_dos_itar_042895.letter

letter from Phil Karn & attorney to Dept. of State, Apr. 28, 1995, warning that if a positive decision is not reached immediately by State, Karn will file suit against them for violation of the First Amendment.

nsa_3des_export_denial_0396.letter

[Not directly related to the case, but of peripheral interest] Letter from State Dept.'s Office of Defense Trade Controls (controled by the National Security Agency) denying Phil Karn approval to export software that supports Triple-DES encryption. Interesting especially for 3 reasons: The export has nothing to do with public distribution, but was requested to provide security for the foreign, but US-staffed and owned, branch of a US company; such export denial was threatened if the X9 Committee which establishes banking security standards settled on 3DES instead of Clipper - NSA is making good on its threats; and the 3DES export denial portion of the form response appears to be a standard part of the form now (in other words, NSA/DoS may be routinely denying all 3DES exports.)

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../Bernstein_case/

Documents from the EFF & Bernstein v. US Dept. of State lawsuit, in which we challenge the constitutionality of the ITAR crypto export restrictions. This case is similar to the Karn case.

../Junger_v_DoS/

Directory of info on PETER D. JUNGER v. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, OFFICE OF DEFENSE TRADE CONTROLS, & NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY case. Junger claims the ITAR and AECA export restrictions on encryption (particularly the absurdly broad definition of 'export', which includes "disclosing" to foreigners, unconstitutionally restricts Jungers First Amendment rights to teach a class in which cryptography is detailed, if a foreign student is present. Case is closely related to Karn case.

Related On-Site Resources

Bernstein v. US Dept. of State case archives

Links to Related Off-Site Resources

Phil Karn's own Legal Case Archives