INTRODUCTION

Project Mission

Pulling from the vast resources on the Web, we have constructed a cohesive presentation on the policy and reasoning concerning export controls on high technology. By concentrating on high technology we limit our discussion to the gray area of export controls: "dual-use" computing technology, particularly supercomputers and software encryption, that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. We open with background on the current government stance and provide a basis for the direction it has taken since World War II. There is a comprehensive discussion on risks the United States is faced with concerning high-tech exports; this encompasses both military and economic consequences, each which oftentimes demands a policy opposite from the other. There is a real-world threat to the proliferation of U.S. technologies; however, how plausible is adequate control on these technologies and how damaging to U.S. business is such control? There are many groups that have stake in how this debate will play out: various privacy and civil liberty advocates that take the issue to an ideological level; corporate indentities that feel the draw of an open international market; and a concerned government that must entertain its constituency as well as protect national security to the best of its ability.

We have also used the research to provide our own analysis of the situation. Given the current policies, various risks, and wants of different groups, what should be the composition of future policy, and what steps will be taken to get there? Concentrating on the two high-tech issues that seem to own the political playing field to themselves, supercomputers and encryption, we evaluate the current policy in terms of how we view the international stage and enumerate our own policy recommendations. Politics may often have little to do with ethics; however we also attempt to lay out the issue amongst an ethical backdrop. We consider issues of rights to privacy as well as the conflict between monetary gains and possible endangerment to our nation's borders.

In the end, information is the key; we hope we provide enough of it in a well-organized and efficient manner. As merely a summaritive and analytical project, we pay great respect to the comprehensive and varied first-hand sources used in this compilation. We hope to have provided enough links to these sources to make our project a launching pad from which an expansive understanding of this topic can be achieved.

-- The Authors