For those of you interested in the legal aspects of connecting BITNET/EARN
to COCOM countries then you can obtain the relevant information from the
server at BITNIC. There are three files totaling about 70 Kb, and since
they contain large doses of "lawyer talk", they are pretty heavy reading.
The files can be obtained by sending a mail message to LISTSERV at BITNIC.
Leave the subject line blank and in the main body of the mail message write.
------------8< cut here 8<----------
GET LEGAL COUNSEL
GET LEGAL GTDA
GET LEGAL COMMERCE
------------8< cut here 8<-----------
These files contain information about the U.S. Department of Commerce
rules for general availability of data which may be useful to participants
in BITNET and its international Cooperating Networks:
LEGAL GTDA -- The GTDA rules for info which may be generally distributed
without special Dept of Commerce license
LEGAL COMMERCE -- The Letter of Clarification to CREN (BITNET) from the
U.S. Department of Commerce, explaining the issues
involved in allowing East Block countries to connect
to BITNET (directly or via EARN)
LEGAL COUNSEL -- The opinion of the CREN counsel regarding the implications
of allowing the East Block countries to connect to BITNET
All organizations which use the networks are responsible for ensuring
their own compliance to the Department of Commerce Rules, so Member
Representatives, Information Representatives, and others in positions of
responsibility in the organizations which participate in BITNET or other
networks should take the time to become familiar with these files and to
educate their faculty, students, and staff about these responsibilities.
For those that want the files from an FTP site try ANONYMOUS FTP to
128.214.6.100 and directory pub/doc/earn and get the document
earn-eastblock.txt.
-=ROB=-
