On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 13:23:58 -0700, Dan wrote:

On Monday, June 8, 2015 at 1:09:45 PM UTC-7, Bob La Londe wrote:
"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 8 Jun 2015 12:55:52 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

I wonder what kind of trouble US Digital got themselves into. Today
I received a letter from them saying I needed to sign it agreeing to
obey the law in several different ways, or they wouldn't sell to me
anymore. My first thought is somehow they get themselves in trouble,
and they are sending out these letters as a legal ploy to try claim
it was somebody else.

I have three US Digital encoders on my Hurco KMB1.

I found the implication and tone of the letter to be vulgar and
insulting.
Basically it said over and over again, "You agree to obey the law."
(Paraphrasing)

I wonder if this is the same letter they sent out to some customers 5
years ago. It was about not selling to embargoed countries. Is that
what yours is about?

Yep.


Likely are getting pressure from the government. ITAR is a snake in
the grass waiting to ruin your day.

And the people in the State Department who administer it are definitely
not paid to think.

At one point, back when I had a Real Job, I was helping our export
control officer get an engineering tool sent off to a vendor in South
Africa for testing. What we wanted to send was basically a hunk of
aluminum with some mounting flanges and a mirror.

Our export control officer told them this, sent pictures, etc., etc.
Finally she flew to DC with the thing, put it up on someone's desk, and
said "can I send this to South Africa?"

The federal employee in charge responded "but that's just a hunk of
aluminum with a mirror..."

(It's important, when dealing with bureaucrats, to remember that they
never, ever, get fired or thrown in the pokey, for saying "no" -- only
for saying "yes".)

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com