It turns out they did mean "through August 3rd" by "until", so comments
are still accepted through 11:59 edt tonight, if anyone got delayed.
7,201 comments so far, at
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=DOS-2015-0023 . The
majority though seem to be form letters generated by a gun-rights
campaign. If you have more specific points related to our field, now's
the time to make them.
One extended detailed comment from a lawyer who seems to have been
following ITAR issues for a while, pointed out by a reader, is at:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOS-2015-0023-7195
Henry
On 8/2/2015 9:46 PM, Lars Osborne wrote:
Thank you for the reminder and the template Henry. I would not have sent
in a comment without it.
Thanks,
Lars Osborne
On Sun, Aug 2, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Henry Vanderbilt
<hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
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 <mailto: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
<mailto: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