[SpaceProgram] Underwater laboratory for Space exploration

Joel C. Salomon joelcsalomon at gmail.com
Sat Aug 4 00:09:30 CEST 2012


On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 9:30 PM, Matt Joyce <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:

> Data classification ( basically what ITAR is ) has no real relevance to
> anything.  It's pure bureaucratic overhead.  There has been repeated calls
> for reform in this arena.
>
> much like reforming tax law... there's no incentive for anyone to actually
> do their job on this one.  so it stays horribly broken.


It’s worse than you think. (Cue Malcolm Reynolds: “It usually is.”)

The companies that are—on paper, at least—most affected by this aspect of
ITAR are the large aerospace firms. But—

   - They have in-house expertise and so have less need to
   discuss technology with outsiders on the internet;
   - They don’t want to risk lucrative contracts by bringing Constitutional
   free-speech claims against ITAR;
   - They have the lawyers and connections to get waivers for ITAR
   more easily than the independent operators & hackerspaces can; and therefore
   - They see regulations like ITAR as ways to keep new competition from
   growing large enough to challenge them.

Combine these, and you find that there’s real incentive for people to lobby
to keep these laws horribly broken.

—Joel
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