With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The poem is engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty
In his Random Thoughts, Nicholas Weaver reports today on what he found when he dug a little more deeply into a rule change proposed by the Commerce Department.
The Commerce Department, in the Federal Register, has proposed some significant changes to the Export Control Rules. The changes seem subtle and arcane (a change of ‘and’ to ‘or’, changing country of citizenship to country of birth OR citizenship (whichever is more restrictive), and a couple of “clarifications”). But the implications appear huge, especially the ‘and’ to ‘or’ change. Assuming I’m reading this correctly, it sounds like whoever allows a foreign citizen to use a supercomputer (or other export controlled device) has to get an export license and approval from the federal government. And just about every remotely decent cluster qualifies. Will universities be forced to deny access to Chinese graduate students? What if someone had the misfortune to be born in Iran? Or Cuba? It’s not too late to submit comments (mail to scook@bis.doc.gov, with “RIN 0694-AD29″ in the subject line), as the comment period extends until May 27th.
Note that this is not a major news item; Nick can’t even remember where he read about the rule change. But the implications are startling, and scary. How much of this is going on, just slipping by in the flurry of bureaucratic actions coming hourly out of Washington?
Post a Comment