[free-sklyarov] legal precedent for code as free speech?

[Will Doherty]

Court judgment which ruled that software code is protected speech--

Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice

EFF was instrumental in getting the export restrictions on encryption 
lifted. In this precedent-setting case a
mathematics student won the right to post his encryption code on the 
Internet. The case has now been
remanded to the District Court; we are watching the government to ensure 
that they are fairly implementing
standards for the export of encryption. EFF is currently in discussion with 
the government as to the final
disposition of the case. (updated July 6, 2001)
At issue: That computer code is protected speech.
EFF's role: EFF is sponsoring this case.
More info: http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Bernstein_v_DoJ

Sincerely,

Will Doherty
Online Activist / Media Relations
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Web http://www.eff.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation - Protecting rights in the digital age
-------


At 02:06 PM 7/21/2001 -0400, Michael D. Crawford wrote:
>I believe there have been a couple of court judgements which ruled that 
>computer
>program source code is free speech.  This has not yet been tested in the 
>supreme
>court, and of course Judge Kaplan ruled that it wasn't in the DeCSS case.
>
>Can anyone tell me where I can find the specific legal opinions about this on
>the web?  I'm going to write to my congressional representatives and want to
>cite these cases as background.  I think it is helpful to give specific, legal
>information a congressperson can work with, as they're probably going to 
>find a
>letter about freeing russian programmers kind of out of the blue.
>
>One of the cases is the Daniel Bernstein case on encryption export.  I believe
>the appeals court found that source code was free speech, although I'm not 
>sure
>they said that directly - I do know they found his free speech rights were
>infringed.
>
>I'm pretty sure there has been one other case, although I don't know if it has
>made it to the appellate level.  But it's been a while and I don't remember
>which case this was.
>
>When I write the letters I will post one on my web page someone and send 
>the URL
>here so you can use them to write your own representatives if you like.
>
>Mike
>--
>Michael D. Crawford
>GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
>http://www.goingware.com
>crawford at goingware.com
>
>   Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.
>
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