Companies that cannot offer these features face an uphill battle in an extremely competitive marketplace. As a result, companies who choose to incorporate encryption into their products are faced with a Faustian choice. They can either use strong encryption and forgo the lucrative export market, or they can use weaker encryption for their export products, thereby rendering them unattractive to potential customers. Companies who choose to forgo exports face a significant challenge. In the era of the global electronic marketplace, to have products that cannot be sold on the foreign market is a tremendous disadvantage.
Some companies choose an alternative route.
They choose to export products that incorporate weaker encryption, placing them at a significant disadvantage to their competitors abroad. Users understand the value of encryption, and simply do not want products that are weak or easily broken. Companies who choose this route often find that their potential international customers go elsewhere to find products that meet their need for robust privacy and security products. This dichotomy between their foreign counterparts and US companies is so pronounced a foreign competitor of Privada has used it to market its services. Current policy limits the ability of companies and individuals to protect data and communications.