A typical scientific idea or innovation usually involves just a small set of these modules. If a scientist wants to test his new idea, involving one module, he will still have to implement all the other modules just to demonstrate that his idea works. There have been several occasions since 1988 where computer scientists at other institutions have fetched the Standard ML of New Jersey software on the Internet, made modifications to it, and published scientific papers describing their improvements. Making computer code available on the Internet is an important avenue for academic advancement. My own career would have been hurt significantly if I had not been able to distribute or retrieve working computer programs.
Cryptography is an area of applied mathematics, just as many areas of computer science are.
This science may also produce useful things for people, as with many sciences, but it changes and grows with new research and insights gained from the academic process. In sum, based on my experience as a University professor and researcher, as a programmer, and as a serious participant on the internet since its birth, it is my opinion that scholarship and science, and the innovation that is so crucial to technological advancement and economic growth, will be seriously damaged by an interpretation of Section 1201 that would prohibit circumvention of security systems for such non-infringing purposes as, for example, those described in my submission to the Library of Congress.