Illegal to download if you live in these countries

This is a wierd trend i seen online latly, have some other webpages but this is one of them (lazy to look them up)

Exsample Ventrilo
Ventrilo is subject to United States export controls. Ventrilo may not be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported: into (or to a national or resident of) Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or any other country to which the United States has embargoed goods; or any organization or company on the United States Commerce Department's "Denied Parties List."
By downloading or using Ventrilo, you are agreeing to the foregoing and all applicable export control laws. You are also warranting that you are not under the control of, located in, or a resident or national of any such country or on any such list.

The information on export laws provided herein is not necessarily complete. For more information on export laws, please refer to United States Commerce Department, Bureau of Export Administration at (202) 482-2440, or (202) 482-4811. Ventrilo is subject to United States export controls. Ventrilo may not be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported: into (or to a national or resident of) Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or any other country to which the United States has embargoed goods; or any organization or company on the United States Commerce Department's "Denied Parties List."

By downloading or using Ventrilo, you are agreeing to the foregoing and all applicable export control laws. You are also warranting that you are not under the control of, located in, or a resident or national of any such country or on any such list.

The information on export laws provided herein is not necessarily complete. For more information on export laws, please refer to United States Commerce Department, Bureau of Export Administration at (202) 482-2440, or (202) 482-4811.

Say...what? great so whats the point in internet if they just "ban" certain countries, cause another country dont like them, o.O huh laff, this is insanly stupid imo.

We dont like you, youre not allowed, sounds like kids arguing.

Reminds me of PGP a few years back. Because it was developed in the States, and because it used encryption algorithms developed in the States, and because encryption has military significance - PGP's shareware file encrypter was pretty much classified as a weapon of war, and therefore not exportable from the U.S (even to countries who were their friends).

The funny thing is that is was determined to be legal to put it on an American web-site, if you had a disclaimer similar to the above. It was illegal, by American law, to download it if you were in another country - but then again you weren't under American law then .

I've always wondered if Mark Shuttleworth made such a killing on the sale of Thawte specifically because it was developed outside the States .

I think they're just covering their legal asses. I doubt they'd actually try to stop someone in one of those countries from downloading.

This isn't anything new. Those trade bans have been around for ages. The one on Cuba since the 1950s or early 1960s. This really has nothing to do with the Internet (and I have a hard time believing the average North Korean even has access, for example). It's a trade rule -- no doing business in these countries. Same reason we have to skip the border to Canada to buy a Cuban cigar.

Now, if you want to talk about the *effectiveness* of these bans, well, that's another story...

No, not quite.

Cryptography is classified as military arms, and hence with exporting of arms to those countries illegal -- disclaimers like that appear.

Also funny is the fact that one of the foremost books on cryptography contained full C code inside it, as well as a CD with all the encryption code in text files. It was illegal to remove the CD from the U.S., but not illegal to remove the book contining exactly the same information.

I guess they figure people in hostile nations are too lazy to retype code from a book...

Six of one, half-dozen of the other. As an American entity, you can no easier sell milkshakes in North Korea as you could missiles.