[peterwwillis]

The justification is we don't help our enemies, even if it doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme.

Edit: looks like one of the countries is our ally... so that's weird. For the rest of them makes sense from a geopolitical standpoint.

[stan_rogers]

It can get weird. I remember when the export list was significantly expanded for high-bit crypto (2000? 2001?), and France was still on the no-go list - not because the US prohibited export as such, but because France prohibited import (except through authorized channels). Israel may be in the same camp.

[yuhong]

To be more precise, France allowed import of 128-bit crypto before US allowed export of it and months after US allowed 56-bit crypto to be exported. I also found out that it took until 2004 for France to formally allow import of 256-bit crypto.