They mean whatever the regulator wants them to mean, when you're handcuffed to his table.
Prudence dictates that you not expose yourself or your business to unnecessary risks. So by that standard, the "country" is wherever the enforcer has the power to hurt you, an "import" is bringing something within reach of the enforcer, and an "export" is moving something beyond his reach.
Just stay out of the "country", and you never have to worry about being punished for "exports". If you look at the Byzantine import/export regulations, you don't have to be physically located outside of the geographical boundaries of the U.S. to be considered a foreign entity for the purpose of importing and exporting technical information.
Just feed in this new input to your lawyer/accountant tax avoidance machine, and everything should be all sorted out by next fiscal year.
Incorrect, the USA are known for messing with money, goods, people (CIA abductions) or even the airplanes of foreign heads of state (Snowden), even if there is no applicable jurisdiction.
Behave like a bully everywhere, then some day resistance will rise to you...
I put "country" in scare quotes for precisely this reason.
If what you do impedes the state, even if it is outwardly legal, it will impede you right back, with whatever means that seem most convenient. If you want to develop strong encryption and distribute it worldwide, your operational security had better be impeccable.
There's good reason why Bitcoin developer Satoshi is a secret pseudonym, and why the real person or people behind it should be reluctant to link their public identities with it. There would certainly be either a character assassination in the media, or an "unfortunate accident" on the streets.
There have always been men in this world more willing to serve power than to uphold principles. It hardly matters what flag patches they wear on their uniforms.
Prudence dictates that you not expose yourself or your business to unnecessary risks. So by that standard, the "country" is wherever the enforcer has the power to hurt you, an "import" is bringing something within reach of the enforcer, and an "export" is moving something beyond his reach.
Just stay out of the "country", and you never have to worry about being punished for "exports". If you look at the Byzantine import/export regulations, you don't have to be physically located outside of the geographical boundaries of the U.S. to be considered a foreign entity for the purpose of importing and exporting technical information.
Just feed in this new input to your lawyer/accountant tax avoidance machine, and everything should be all sorted out by next fiscal year.