Seriously, this just illustrates the idiocy of banning "hooks" in software.
Yes. That's why an API that supported generic data transforms and that included compression and for non-export encryption would be a useful thing. I have a start toward such an API definition that I will email to anyone who might wanna finish it off. I started doing it around the time that Raph talked about his per-user crypto server.
How does one define a "hook"? Just providing source code could be defined as providing a hook, since a good programmer could then modify it to do crypto. Also, how about the various kits and tools used to integrate pgp with pine, eudora, etc -- are these not "hooks"?
They define a hook. They define it on a case-by-case basis. "They" is the Office of Defence Trade Controls, in conjunction with their consulting experts primarily people in the department of Export Control at the NSA. Luckily the ITAR talks about willful violations. /r$