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State Dept. shuts down open-access Internet DEC-Alpha via export ctl!
From: gnu () cygnus com <gnu () cygnus com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 93 01:34:07 -0700
DEC was the first company to put up one of their machines on the Internet so that people could log in and port their (free or commercial) software to it. This is a great idea, which I'm encouraging others to emulate. But the government objects... The machine was called axposf (AXP is the model, OSF is the operating system) .pa.dec.com (in the Palo Alto office of the DEC computer company). Anyone could connect to it over the Internet, using a standard protocol (telnet), and type to it, as if they were sitting at its console. This was WONDERFUL for people who are working on software. The AXP is a new "64-bit" machine, and most software will need at least minor revisions to accomodate it. But most software authors and companies won't immediately buy an AXP. Making one available for casual use on the Internet means that much more software would appear on the AXP sooner. The State Dept. regulates "remote access to computers" as equivalent to "export of computers". I shudder to think what would happen if they discovered that ordinary email can invoke processing remotely. Unfortunately, the machine is at DEC, which is gunshy about export problems, after getting a multimillion dollar fine (which I don't think they ever challenged in court) because some customer trans-shipped a Vax to Eastern Europe in the '70s. A more modern company might simply tell the State Dept. to shove it, and beat them in court over the unconstitutionality of the export laws. Are they seriously telling us that we can't put a public access machine on the Internet? Can we attach phone lines to it instead? If not, a few thousand BBS's running on fast machines are violating export laws... If so, what is the specific difference between the Internet and a phone line, that lets a company distinguish a legal act of commerce or communication from an illegal act of export? John, can you make sure the Congressional committees hear about this? As far as I know, they are still not on email. John Gilmore ------- Forwarded Message
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