Andy wrote:
> *** Court strikes U.S. encryption rules
>
> SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Government limits on the export of computer
> encryption codes, which scramble data to prevent eavesdropping, are a
> violation of freedom of expression, a federal appeals court ruled
> Thursday. The ruling is a blow to the Clinton administration, which
> limits exports of the most powerful encryption technology because it
> fears law enforcement agencies won't be able to read the messages of
> criminals or terrorists. But the high-tech industry wants relaxed
> restrictions so it can take full advantage of the booming market for
> encryption programs as Internet commerce increases. The 9th U.S.
> Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding a lower-court ruling, said
> encryption codes contain expressions of ideas and cannot be
> suppressed indefinitely by government officials. See
> http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559451428-8e5

Note that the court specifically *didn't* rule on some things, and they
made sure to point that out:

1)  They didn't rule anything about object code, therefore they haven't
    given object code First Amendment protection.

2)  They didn't rule that all source code is expressive, therefore they
    haven't given all source code First Amendment protection.

3)  They didn't rule that the Federal Government can't regulate the
    export of cryptographic source code.

What they did rule is that:

     In short, because the challenged regulations grant
     boundless discretion to government officials, and because
     they lack the required procedural protections set forth in
     Freedman, we find that they operate as an unconstitutional
     prior restraint on speech.

And they also ruled that it was beyond the scope of the doctrine of
severability for the court to edit out only the unconstitutional portion
of the current regulations:

     We decline the invitation to line edit the regulations in an attempt
     to rescue them from constitutional infirmity, and thus endorse the
     declaratory relief granted by the district court.

The full decision of the 9th District Court of Appeals is at:

    http://www.epic.org/crypto/export_controls/bernstein_decision_9_cir.html

And the earlier decision by Judge Patel which they affirmed is at:

    http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case/Legal/970825_decis
ion.html