But when the same components are embedded in a satellite, the whole unit falls under the export controls of the Commerce Department.
"A dual-use item by definition can be perfectly innocent or it could have military applications," said Kenneth I. Juster, the under secretary of commerce who oversees the export control program.
U.S. Export Controls, and the export control systems of most advanced industrialized countries, do not do much to restrict the export and sale of spy products.
Last month, changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies ("Wassenaar Arrangement") placed "zero-days", other computer exploits, and potentially more categories of software under this multilateral export control regime.
We operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defence exports to Saudi Arabia under careful and continual review.
In talks with the Chinese, Bush administration officials have repeatedly asked them to issue comprehensive export control regulations, under the agreement struck by the two countries in the last months of the Clinton administration.
"Canada closely controls the export of military goods and technology to countries that pose a threat to Canada and its allies," including those that are looking to launch a war or under sanction by the United Nations, reads government export control regulations.
But the Arts Council has said there is little it can do as the mural is less than 50 years old and excluded from Export Control under current rules.
U.S. customs officials were tipped to the scheme in fall 2000 by a company that had found no connection between the university and the Gail Heights who had placed an order for electronic parts that fall under U.S. government export controls.
Majak said high-technology products still account for about 80% of the items controlled under the export laws.
