[amsat-bb] A New AMSAT Free From Worries About ITAR!

[Bruce Perens]

The United States Department of Defense has ruled that the ORI satellite
program using the ITAR/EAR strategy
<https://openresearch.institute/itar-and-ear-strategy/> that I developed
and have been promoting is not subject to ITAR. ORI will now obtain a
ruling from Department of Commerce regarding the Export Administration
Regulations (the EAR). Commerce is expected find that the program is not
subject to the EAR for the same reasons that Defense found it not subject
to ITAR - portions of both laws that exempt public knowledge.

AMSAT now has a path forward: we can operate our development under the same
strategy, and be free of worry about ITAR. We can admit anyone we want to a
project. The cost is abandoning proprietary technology and NDAs. The
benefit will be greater, since we can share development with other national
AMSAT organizations, and other organizations such as LibreSpace, without
fear.

I'm presently working on my Debconf paper and video, and will write a
compliance manual after that to assist projects in carrying out the
ITAR/EAR strategy.

    Thanks

    Bruce