THE Pentagon’s post-9/11 grip on private inventions seems to be loosening. The number of patents barred on the grounds that they would harm national security has halved in the past year.
By the end of the financial year ending in March 2005, such orders had been imposed on just 32 inventors, compared with 61 in 2004, according to figures released to the Federation of American Scientists under a freedom of information request.
But the National Security Agency, the US government’s eavesdropping arm, had nine of its patents blocked in 2005, against five in 2004 and none in 2003. Computer security…
