Ethical Export Policy

Software from Netresec is not subject to national export control. However, we acknowledge that some of our software could potentially be used by repressive regimes to spy on their own citizens to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms. We have therefore created this Ethical Export Policy, which aims at preventing repressive regimes from obtaining our commercial network forensics tool NetworkMiner Professional. In short, we practice “know your customer” (as recommended by EFF) and strictly deny sales to the countries on the “No Sale” list below.

No Sale List

Country	EU	UN	Freedom House	WGI	EIU	Other
Afghanistan	EU	UN		-1.85	0.00
Angola					2.65
Azerbaijan			FH 10	-1.41	2.65
Bahrain			FH 7	-1.38	1.76
Bangladesh			FH 11
Belarus	EU		FH 4	-1.67	1.47
Burundi				-1.37	1.76
Cambodia			FH 14	-1.29	2.06
Cameroon				-1.07	2.06
Central African Republic	EU	UN		-1.26	2.35
Chad				-1.43	2.35
China [1]	EU		FH 0	-1.50	0.59	MITM of GitHub, Google, Yahoo, iCloud and outlook.com
Democratic Republic of the Congo	EU	UN		-1.21	0.88
Republic of the Congo				-1.15
Cuba			FH 6	-1.25	2.94
Djibouti				-1.27	2.35
Egypt	EU		FH 5	-1.38	1.76
Equatorial Guinea				-1.68	1.47
Eritrea				-1.86	0.29
Eswatini (Swaziland)				-1.16	2.94
Ethiopia			FH 10	-1.06	1.47
Gabon					2.94
Guinea				-1.15	2.06
Guinea-Bissau					2.35
Haiti	EU	UN		-1.18
Iran	EU		FH 1	-1.45	1.47
Iraq	EU	UN	FH 14		1.18
Jordan					2.94
Kazakhstan			FH 10		2.94	SSL MITM (EFF, HN)
Kyrgyzstan			FH 15
Laos / Lao DPR				-1.63	0.29
Lebanon	EU	UN
Libya	EU	UN	FH 14	-1.39	2.35
Mali				-1.01
Myanmar / Burma	EU		FH 2	-1.84	0.00
Nicaragua			FH 14	-1.39	2.65
North Korea	EU	UN		-1.98	0.00
Pakistan			FH 8
Russia	EU		FH 5	-1.29	2.06
Rwanda			FH 12		2.65
Saudi Arabia			FH 5	-1.42	1.47
Somalia	EU	UN		-1.66
South Sudan	EU	UN		-1.68
Sudan	EU	UN	FH 10	-1.60	0.88
Syria	EU		FH 3 (2020)	-1.85	0.00
Tajikistan				-1.63	0.88
Thailand			FH 9
Togo					2.94
Turkey			FH 7		2.06
Turkmenistan				-1.88	0.29
United Arab Emirates (UAE)			FH 7	-1.09	2.35
Uzbekistan			FH 6	-1.31	0.88
Venezuela	EU		FH 11	-1.53	2.35
Vietnam			FH 4	-1.24	2.65
West Bank and Gaza				-1.12
Yemen	EU	UN		-1.55	0.88
Zimbabwe	EU			-1.09

[1] Including Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau

Sources

We rely on several different sources in our assessment regarding what countries to put on our no sale list.

European Union (EU)
The European Union’s Restrictive measures (sanctions) in force presents a list of countries for which the EU requires restrictive measures in economic or financial relations. All countries with an arms embargo or "ban on exports of equipment for internal repression" are put on our no sale list.

EU list updated November 2024 based on ISP

United Nations Security Council (UN)
The UN Security Council imposes sanctions and/or more targeted measures such as arms embargoes, travel bans, financial or diplomatic restrictions. All countries with UN arms embargoes are put on our no sale list.

UN list updated November 2024 based on ISP

Freedom House
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that speaks out against the main threats to democracy and empowers citizens to exercise their fundamental rights. Freedom House produces a yearly report called Freedom on the Net (October, 2024), which evaluates the degree of internet freedom around the world based on barriers to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. All countries with a score of 15 or less in the “Violations of User Rights” category in this study are added to our no sale list. The numbers appearing in the Freedom House column of our Deny List is the “Violations of User Rights” score for each respective country.

The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)
The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) is a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. These data are gathered from a number of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and private sector firms. Countries with a governance estimate below -1.00 in the “Voice and Accountability” category of WGI (2023) are added to our no sale list. The “Voice and Accountability” value reflects perceptions of the extent to which a country's citizens are able to participate in selecting their government, as well as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and a free media.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories. One of the indicators tracked by the EIU is "Civil Liberties", which roughly includes the freedom of conscience, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right to security and liberty, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to equal treatment under the law and due process, the right to a fair trial, and the right to life. All countries with a "Civil Liberties" indicator score below 3.0 are added to our no sale list. EIU list updated 2024 based on Democracy Index 2023.

Other
We at Netresec maintain an additional list of countries that we for various reasons do not sell our software to.