crypto import to the UK

[Peter Gutmann]

Paul Leyland <pleyland@microsoft.com> writes:
 
>It's been observed by "RT Fishall" (the pseudonym of someone relatively
>well-known but I'm not sure whether the name-pseudonym association itself is
>well-known) that one cannot beat bureaucrats --- the best one can do is to
>make their life miserable by ensuring that they have to do some work.
>
>Neither Matt's nor Peter's story has given me a good feel for how much work is
>required from the exporter.  Is it worth the effort to go through with the
>bureaucratic exercise, in terms of the amusement gained and the cumulative
>effect on the specification and implementation of the regulations?  How many
>people need to go through this procedure how many times before the authorities
>come to the opinion that the regulations are costing too much?  Fundamentally,
>is the denial of service attack cost effective?
 
The problem (at least in NZ and the US) is that the poor guys charged with
enforcing this nonsense aren't the ones making the rules.  MFAT could quite
easily require that all exporters dance naked through the airport waving a
rubber chicken and singing "I'm a teapot, I'm a teapot" in order to be allowed
to take crypto out of the country, but it's NZ Customs who would be required to
watch them do it and make sure they did it right.  As long as they're isolated
from reality, the bureaucrats can pretty much set any requirements they please.
Luckily I only did this for a laugh, I shudder to think what I'd have to go
through if I wanted to actually export a product to a foreign customer with a
real deadline.
 
Peter.