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Export restrictions

A project log for Orthrus

SD card secure RAID USB storage

nick-sayerNick Sayer 09/02/2017 at 18:290 Comments

I've gotten a few sales in the Tindie store, but I've recently got a spate of requests by folks for shipping rates to foreign countries. Unfortunately - as it says on the store page - I cannot export Orthrus from the United States. I've started down the road of asking for an export license from the Commerce department, but that has basically gone nowhere. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they eventually denied it outright.

Orthrus is open source firmware, but it relies on hardware cryptographic acceleration, which means that the usual exemptions for open-source don't apply. Even if they did apply to the firmware, I'd be unable to export programmed units because they're not pure software. Of course, all of those distinctions are moot because the current hardware - even with no firmware - requires an export license because of the cryptographic hardware.

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