If high power technology is available everywhere, then the U.S. could be completely blocked from gathering information by means of intercepting data transmissions. Because the U.S. considers cryptographic technology to be a threat to national security, export controls have been put into place, preventing software manufacturers from exporting many different types of software packages. This is accomplished under the authority of section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act. Advocates of export control have three main arguments. The last argument is that the export control law results in companies applying for a permit to export, which allows the government to survey technological advances by examining the products.
Export control has drawbacks, especially for U.S. software producers.
Because the demand for computer security in both the business and private sectors is high, software companies have made encryption technology part of many of the top-selling software packages. The integration of encryption technology into popular software compounds the export restriction problem for the software companies because it increases the number of products that they are prevented from selling in foreign markets. Even so, the National Security Agency shows no signs of changing its position on the subject. Export control is probably an ineffective solution to the threat of other nations employing encryption software to protect their secrets. Foreign software producers are already producing these products, so eventually everyone who has the money and the need will have very strong security.