  finally someone's actually concerned enough about the whole trade embargo/publishing fiasco to write an urlLink opinion piece about it. this is an issue which, of course, directly affects not only literary translators but publishers and editors as well. for a while there, it looked like we could be facing up to ten years in jail just for correcting a spelling mistake in a translation from farsi. sigh. for those who might not know about this, here's a taster from the office of foreign assets control archives: "Activities such as the reordering of paragraphs and sentences, correction of syntax, grammar, and replacement of inappropriate words by U.S. persons, prior to publication, may result in a substantively altered or enhanced product, and is therefore prohibited. " Oh! and this one: "Despite Berman's 1988 amendment, which was intended to prevent such use of authority, OFAC asserts its responsibility to regulate the publishing industry. "It's illegal to provide a service for a sanctioned country," Millerwise says. "This isn't something new that we just came up with. " 
