Just sent:
"The proposed change to the definition of "public domain" to include
only items published with specific written government authorization will
introduce an inherent uncertainty over whether any given technical datum
so qualifies, which, in combination with the continued inherent
uncertainty over whether a given technical datum in any arguably
defense-related field is or is not "technical data directly related to a
defense article", cannot help but have a significant chilling effect on
US public discussion of a wide range of technologies, with end result of
suppressing or driving overseas the very technological advances ITAR
nominally seeks to protect.
Henry Vanderbilt
hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
On 8/2/2015 6:35 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
"The Department of State will accept comments on this proposed rule
until August 3, 2015", which I take to mean they're due by midnight EDT
tonight, AKA about 2.5 hours.
The good news is, by my reading the proposed ITAR changes at
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-06-03/pdf/2015-12844.pdf would
finally unambiguously include discussions here as "published" for
public-domain determination purposes.
The bad news is, "public domain" would be redefined to only include
things published with explicit written government authorization. Add
that to the inherent uncertainty whether any given dual-use technology
item is or isn't an ITAR-restricted "defense article", and you have a
seriously chilling effect on rocketry and related discussions by US
persons.
Comments can be emailed to DDTCPublicComments@xxxxxxxxx, with the
subject line, ‘‘ITAR Amendment—Revisions to Definitions; Data
Transmission and Storage.’’ There's also a website, but it wouldn't
load on my browser just now.
More details at http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau142.html#itarproblem