Bernstein v. United States

Infobox Court Case
name = Bernstein I
court = United States District Court for the Northern District of California
date_decided = April 15, 1996
full_name = Daniel J. Bernstein et al., v. United States Department of State et al.
citations = 922 F. Supp. 1426
judges = Marilyn Hall Patel
prior_actions =
subsequent_actions =
opinions = Infobox Court Case
name = Bernstein II
court = United States District Court for the Northern District of California
date_decided = December 9, 1996
full_name = Daniel J. Bernstein et al., v. United States Department of State et al.
| citations = 945 F. Supp. 1279
judges = Marilyn Hall Patel
prior_actions =
subsequent_actions =
opinions = Infobox Court Case
name = Bernstein III

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imagesize = 120
court = United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
date_decided = August 25, 1997
full_name = Daniel J. Bernstein et al., v. United States Department of State et al.
citations =176 F.3d 1132
judges = Betty Binns Fletcher, Myron H. Bright, Thomas G. Nelson
prior_actions = Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel ruled for plaintiff in 974 F.Supp. 1288
subsequent_actions =
opinions = Opinion by Fletcher
Concurrence by Bright
Dissent by Nelson

"Bernstein v. United States" is a set of court cases brought by Daniel J. Bernstein challenging restrictions on the export of encryption software outside the United States.

The case was first brought in 1995, when Bernstein was a student at University of California, Berkeley, and wanted to publish a paper and associated source code on his Snuffle encryption system. Bernstein was represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who hired outside lawyer Cindy Cohn. After four years and one regulatory change, the court case won a landmark decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, that software source code was speech protected by the First Amendment and that the government's regulations preventing its publication were unconstitutional. [http://www.epic.org/crypto/export_controls/bernstein_decision_9_cir.html]

The government modified the regulations again, substantially loosening them, and Bernstein, now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, challenged them again. This time, he chose to represent himself, although he has no formal legal training. On October 15, 2003, almost nine years since Bernstein first brought the case, the judge dismissed it and asked Bernstein to come back when the government made a "concrete threat". [http://cr.yp.to/export/status.html]

References

* "Bernstein v. United States Dept. of Justice", 192 F.3d 1308 (9th Cir. 1999) (order that case be reheard en banc)
* "Bernstein v. DOC", 2004 U.S. Dist. 6672 (N.D. Cal. April 19, 2004)

ee also

* Export of cryptography
* "Junger v. Daley"

External links

* [http://cr.yp.to/export.html Bernstein's website on the case]
* [http://www.netlitigation.com/netlitigation/cases/bernstein.htm Netlitigation Summary: Bernstein v. U.S. Dept. of State]
* [http://www.epic.org/crypto/export_controls/bernstein_decision_9_cir.html EPIC Archive of 9th Circuit Decision]
* [http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Crypto_export/Bernstein_case/ EFF Archive of the Cases]