[amsat-bb] Open Source Satellite Work Determined to be Free of ITAR

Wed Aug 19 00:21:25 UTC 2020

Bruce,

Understood, however, the finding is very narrowly scoped - it only says
that your system is not covered by ITAR.  It doesn't say why.  You believe
it's related to the open-source nature of your system, however the
finding *doesn't
say that.*

I worked for 28+ years in a field that was regulated by the US government.
We on occasion also asked for findings on various things.  We were
NEVER allowed to make assumptions about the finding.  You could only go by
what the finding said.  And in your case, it's only that your system is not
covered by ITAR - nothing about *why* it's not covered. Because of that,
you can't generalize about other systems being covered or not.  It may seem
illogical, but that's the way the US regulatory system works.

Rich

On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 6:18 PM Bruce Perens <bruce at perens.com> wrote:

> Rich,
>
> The most important thing here is that the DoD finding is *not permission*
> - it is a finding that your project wasn't *ever* subject to ITAR. This
> is thus useful to other projects that use the same Open Source strategy.
>
> A finding is useful for risk-reduction, in that you can wave it at the
> court and annoying FBI folks (they have harassed AMSAT developers in the
> past) and you can use this one as a precedent if you are making a request
> for another program in which you use the same strategies.
>
>     Thanks
>
>     Bruce
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 2:59 PM Rich Gopstein via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
>> Michelle,
>>
>> That's great news, but isn't that ruling only applicable to the specific
>> system that you asked about (digital microwave broadband...)?  It's not a
>> general finding that applies to anything else, right?
>>
>> Rich, KD2CQ
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 18, 2020, 12:24 PM Michelle Thompson via AMSAT-BB <
>> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Open Source Satellite Work Determined to be Free of ITAR
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> https://openresearch.institute/2020/08/18/cj-determination-open-source-satellite-work-is-free-of-itar/
>> >
>> > The United States Department of State has ruled favorably on Open
>> Research
>> > Institute's commodity jurisdiction request, finding that specified
>> > “Information and Software for a Digital Microwave Broadband
>> Communications
>> > System for Space and Terrestrial Amateur Radio Use” is definitely not
>> > subject to State Department jurisdiction under ITAR, the International
>> > Traffic in Arms Regulations. This is an important step toward reducing
>> the
>> > burden of regulations restricting international cooperation on amateur
>> > satellite projects, which have impeded engineering work by amateurs in
>> the
>> > United States for decades.
>> >
>> > Export regulations divide both technical information and actual hardware
>> > into three categories. The most heavily restricted technologies fall
>> under
>> > ITAR, which is administered by the State Department. Technologies
>> subject
>> > to more routine restrictions fall under EAR, the Export Administration
>> > Regulations, administered by the Department of Commerce. Technologies
>> that
>> > are not subject to either set of regulations are not restricted for
>> export.
>> >
>> > On 20 February 2020, Open Research Institute (ORI) filed a Commodity
>> > Jurisdiction (CJ) Request with the US State Department, seeking to
>> > establish that key technologies for amateur radio are not subject to
>> State
>> > Department jurisdiction. “Information and Software for a Digital
>> Microwave
>> > Broadband Communications System for Space and Terrestrial Amateur Radio
>> > Use” was assigned the case number CJ0003120. On 11 August 2020, the case
>> > received a successful final determination: the technology is not
>> subject to
>> > State Department jurisdiction. This is the best possible outcome of a CJ
>> > request.
>> >
>> > The Final Determination letter can be found at
>> >
>> >
>> https://openresearch.institute/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/CJ-0003120-Final-Determination-Letter.pdf
>> > .
>> >
>> > Under this determination, the technologies are subject to the EAR. The
>> next
>> > step is to submit a classification request to the Commerce Department.
>> ORI
>> > anticipates that the Commerce Department will find that these
>> technologies
>> > are unrestricted under the carve-out for open source in the EAR.
>> >
>> > Open Research Institute (ORI) is a non-profit research and development
>> > organization which provides all of its work to the general public under
>> the
>> > principles of Open Source and Open Access to Research.
>> >
>> > This work was accomplished by a team of dedicated and competent open
>> source
>> > volunteers. The effort was initiated by Bruce Perens K6BP and lead by
>> > Michelle Thompson W5NYV.
>> >
>> > Open Research Institute developed the ideas behind the Commodity
>> > Jurisdiction request, hired Thomsen and Burke LLP (https://t-b.com/)
>> for
>> > expert legal advice, organized the revisions of the document, and
>> invited
>> > organizations and individuals with amateur satellite service interests
>> to
>> > join or support the request.
>> >
>> > ORI thanks Libre Space Foundation and Dr. Daniel Estevez for providing
>> > their subject matter expertise and written testimony, and JAMSAT for
>> > helpful encouragement and support.
>> >
>> > The legal costs were fully reimbursed with a generous grant from Amateur
>> > Radio Digital Communications (ARDC). See
>> > https://www.ampr.org/grants/grant-open-research-institute/.
>> >
>> > ARDC and ORI share a vision of clearly establishing open source as the
>> best
>> > and safest way to accomplish technical volunteer work in amateur radio.
>> > This final determination letter provides solid support for that vision.
>> The
>> > determination enables the development of implementation guidelines that
>> > will allow free international collaboration.
>> >
>> > This clears the path for a number of interesting projects facilitating
>> new
>> > methods for terrestrial and satellite communications, opening the door
>> to
>> > robust global digital amateur communications.
>> >
>> > Questions and inquiries to ori at openresearch.institute
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>> Opinions
>> > expressed
>> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
>> > AMSAT-NA.
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>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>> Opinions expressed
>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
>> AMSAT-NA.
>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
>> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>>
>
>
> --
> Bruce Perens - CEO at stealth startup. I'll tell you what it is eventually
> :-)
>