What impact have US export controls on crypto had on Australian usage?
The large market share of US computer software and hardware developers also places them in the front seat for controlling computing and network standards. Since cryptography requires both the sender and the receiver(s) to communicate using the same protocols (ie standards), any US limits on cryptography might affect standards, which in turn might affect the types or strength of encryption available to users in many other countries including Australia. The US limits have had an effect in Australia, but in an indirect way to date. Because of the large international market share held by some US software companies, many of the products of these firms have become defacto standards. Cryptographic modules are an important part of some software packages. Internet web browsers provide a good example. The most widely used browser in the world is Internet Explorer (Microsoft), which was developed in the US and contains cryptographic components that can be used for secure Internet communication (f
