Cypherpunks list - Exporting crypto from Japan : Was Tim May’s offensive racism (was: about RC4)

Ito: By the way, the chip was not "withdrawn from the market." MITI has not approved its export. The imporant point is, a recent regulation called the "Gyousei Tetsuzuki Hou" (translates roughly as, "ministry administrative law/guidelines") makes it illegal for a ministry to regulate or restrict an activity without a clear and easy to understand process and documentation. MITI's current method of "case-by-case" export permission could technically be viewed as a breach of this law/regulation. Also, the "Gyousei Tetsuzuki Hou" has time limits for ministries to respond to requests. I have informed RSA that they could take MITI to court on this one, but as far as I know, they haven't. So, yes, Japanese stooges were involved, but companies such as RSA haven't taken advantage of their legal position in pushing the export of their products from Japan.