So, i'm currently in a binge of old websites. Guess what is still online: milk.com ... and this website has an interesting anecdote of of "arms dealing across international boundries".
key phrases:
"Under an obscure provision of US law, devices and computer programs that use encryption techniques to hide information from prying eyes and ears are considered ``munitions'' and subject to the same rules that govern the international arms trade."
"The item in question ... scrambles telephone conversations to protect them against eavesdroppers"
"... luggage, license and phone in hand, I made my way downstairs to Customs, expecting to fill out the SED form and ``just have my license stamped'' as they had assured me earlier on the telephone. I explained my situation to the security guard who controls entry to the Customs area, and he led me to ``the back office'' without much argument or delay."
>spoiler alert: nobody knew how to deal with this
``Are you the guy who wants to export the fancy gun?'' the fellow in the suit asked me.
``It's not a gun, it's a telephone,'' I responded, with a straight face.
``Why do you have a license to export a telephone?'' Good question, I thought. I explained about the export law and showed him the thing. He agreed that it looked pretty harmless. "
>getting back to the US and nobody still knows what to do:
"Finally, she finished with the plane and asked me for my form. She studied it carefully, obviously never having seen one before, and eventually asked me what, exactly, she was supposed to do."
The phrase that makes me laugh"Unfortunately, however, these absurd rules carry the full force of law, and one ignores them only at the risk of being prosecuted for international arms trafficking."
We carry devices everyday through multiple countries across the US and Japan and China and the UK that have encryption on it. And I've not heard anyone being stopped for munition dealings when they have Signal, Whatsapp, Weechat, or Telegram installed on their phone/computer. (Well expect for the guy getting arrested in France for Telegram as he was the owner{?}).
Also, using an FDE like Bitlocker or LVM under Ubuntu jcould be considered under this provision. I wonder when this changed.