Haven U.S. export controls on encryption software already been ruled unconstitutional?
Yes in a specific case, but the decision may yet be overruled. Also, the case itself may be declared moot in light of the new U.S. encryption export regulations. For several years Professor Daniel Bernstein (currently at the University of Illinois at Chicago) has pursued a lawsuit against the U.S. government essentially claiming that U.S. export control regulations on encryption software and related conduct with regard to cryptography (e.g., “technical assistance”) were unconstitutional. (Bernstein’s suit was originally directed at the ITAR and related regulations, since at the time the suit was filed the current Export Administration Regulations were not yet in effect with respect to encryption software.) Bernstein claimed that the U.S. export regulations were in essence a licensing scheme designed to impede or prohibit certain types of speech (e.g., publishing cryptographic source code in electronic form), and were therefore unconstitutional under the First Amendment to the U.S. cons
