No one mentioned the “zeroize” option, so I will. All military aircraft have a switch that when activated, randomizes all data, codes ect. in the computers, radio and navigational equipment. Though the space shuttle is not a military bird per say, they have conducted some top secret experiments for the government and launched defense satellites. Since it was built by defense contractors, it stands to reason it has similar capabilities.
I realize that my comment came out very wrong and very different from what I meant. I couldn’t think of a good way to say it and I thought I finally had, but it must have just ben that I was tired. What I meant was that it is not something they can just one day decide to do and have it the next day. The US government places restrictions on how many powerful computers can be exported, where they can be exported to, for what purpose they are being exported for. Whereas I, if I had the money, could just call and ask for one and get it shipped UPS next-day delivery North Korea would have to ask for it, the company would have to fill out paperwork and get permission(not a quick process) and then ship it off. The turnaround is sigificantly slower and the government also knows who has it and its intended purpose. So, it’s not that they can’t buy one, it’s just that it’s a lot more work and time and regulations than US purchases involve.
BTW, have you ever noticed that the 128-bit encryption version of MSIE is only downloadable if you are in the US? It is because of the same laws.
Which of course would be of no concern to a foreign government. Actually, there isn’t really a way to get a Cray in one day anyway, given that you usually need to build a building (or at least some very large rooms) to house it.
No, that isn’t the same law. There are very specific (and contraversial) laws regarding the export of public-key encryption technology. I guess you aren’t up on the whole Phil Zimmerman affair. Those particular laws only apply to public-key encryption technology. And of course, that technology is readily available outside of the US despite those laws.
On the tangent of computer export control-- The National Defense Authorization Act of 1998 is the controling law. The NDAA combined with the Export Adminstration Regulations (sections 740.7 and 742.12) of The Bureau of Export Adminstration http://bxa.doc.gov/ regulate the export of HPCs.
There is a 4 tier system which determine what level of HPC a country may have exported to them from the US. South Korea being an ally is Tier II. China is a Tier III country–allowed HPCs up to 6500 MTOPS for military end-users and 12,300 MTOPS for civilian end-users.
North Korea, OTH, is Tier IV, which is basically a virtual embargo on any HPCs.
Also, a person cannot simply buy a HPC and ship it to where they wish. That would still fall under the NDAA and customs would confiscate the shipment and you would be charged with export law violations (probably as many as the prosecutor could find).
sorry if it was too far off topic–
“Nuts!”
Gen A.C. McAuliffe
“The general’s nuts.”
unknown 101st AB grunt
That helps to clear things up. Still, hardly seems like much of a barrier for an ally of China, who we know all too well, has pretty a pretty good intelligence operation.