A number of countries have attempted to restrict the import of cryptography tools.

Rationale Countries may wish to restrict import of cryptography technologies for a number of reasons: Imported cryptography may have backdoors or security holes (e.g. the FREAK vulnerability), intentional or not, which allows the country or group who created the backdoor technology, for example the National Security Agency (NSA), to spy on persons using the imported cryptography; therefore the use of cryptography is restricted to that which the government thinks is safe, or which it develops itself. Citizens can anonymously communicate with each other, preventing any external party from monitoring them. Encrypted transactions may impede external entities to control the conducting of business. Cryptography may sometimes increase levels of privacy within the country beyond what the government wishes.

Status by country The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Global Internet Liberty Campaign reports use a color code to indicate the level of restriction, with the following meanings: Green: No restriction Yellow: License required for importation Red: Total ban

Country Status Updated Angola Unknown 2000 Armenia Green/Yellow 2000 Bahrain Yellow 2008 Belarus Red 2008 Brunei Darussalam Yellow/Red 2000 Cambodia Yellow 2008 Canada Green 2015 China Yellow 2008 Czech Republic Green/Yellow 2008 Egypt Yellow 2007 Ghana Green 2008 Hong Kong Green/Yellow 2008 Hungary Green/Yellow 2008 India Green/Yellow 2008 Iran Yellow 2008 Iraq Red 2000 Israel Yellow 2008 Kazakhstan Yellow 2008 Latvia Yellow 2008 Lithuania Yellow 2008 Malta Yellow 2000 Moldova Yellow 2008 Mongolia Red 2000 Morocco Yellow 2008 Myanmar (Burma) Red 2008 Nepal Unknown 2000 Nicaragua Unknown 2000 North Korea Unknown/Red 2008 Pakistan Yellow 2008 Poland Green/Yellow 2008 Romania Green 1996 (Wassenaar) Russia Red 2008 Rwanda Unknown 2008 Saudi Arabia Green 2008 Singapore Green 2008 South Africa Green/Yellow 2008 South Korea Yellow 2008 Tunisia Yellow/Red 2008 Turkmenistan Red 2000 Ukraine Yellow 2007 Vietnam Yellow 2008

See also

Code as speech Export of cryptography

External links Cryptography and Liberty 1998, GILC Report Crypto-Law survey 2013