Many high-technology companies have run afoul of the US' Export Control System, which regulates the overseas sales of items that can be put to use for military or intelligence-gathering purposes. Given the pace of innovation, hardware and software that was once the domain of the military or spy agencies can rapidly wind up in the hands of consumers, meaning that the system for tracking what's restricted needs to be nimble and user-friendly. Unfortunately, it was anything but, and that has led to a new effort to reform the system in a way that would increase the opportunity for US companies to sell goods overseas. The impact of export controls on the high-tech industry have caused problems for everyone from browser makers—who once ran up against restrictions on their encryption software, despite its wide availability outside the US—to hardware makers; Apple once advertised that its G4 processor fell under export control due to outdated definitions of what constituted a supercomputer. But they also affect more mundane items. In the announcement that outlines the reform efforts, the White House notes that the brake pads for the army's M1A1 tank are essentially identical to those used in fire trucks, but only the former ends up under export controls; "Under our current system, we devote the same resources to protecting the brake pad as we do to protecting the M1A1 tank itself."

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