Jim Lux wrote:

I like the whole part of the form where I had to certify that I wasn't
doing nuclear weapons design, nor was I planning on using NEC4 for the
design, development, production, stockpiling, or use of chemical or
biological weapons.

They apparently don't care if I do those things, I just might not be
able to use NEC4 in the process.

The only important thing is that you *say* you're not doing those
things. We all know that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
developers would never lie about what they're doing.

But this is a big step beyond how things used to be. Until a few years
ago, NEC-4 could be sold only to people who said they were U.S. citizens
for use in the U.S. So it was trivial for any potential enemy to get the
program which could be carried anywhere in the world on a floppy disk in
a shirt pocket, or even sent by email. In the meantime, users in
friendly countries had to apply for an exemption via diplomatic
channels. I know of at least one case where this was done, and approval
took several years.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL