For 30 years, efforts to control the export of cybersecurity software have proven ineffective. From encryption in the 1990s to spyware and now Anthropic's AI model Mythos, prohibition consistently fails. The same pattern holds: restricting access drives development overseas and empowers bad actors. Experts argue that the cat-and-mouse game makes export controls a losing strategy.
History keeps teaching us the same lesson. Block encryption? Developers move abroad. Ban spyware? It thrives in gray markets. Now Mythos joins the list of tools that can't be put back in the box. The internet was built on open exchange. Trying to wall off powerful code is like trying to hold back the tide with a sieve.
But here's the hopeful twist: every failed control sparks innovation. The cat-and-mouse game isn't a bug—it's a feature. It forces us to build smarter defenses, not just legal barriers. The genie won't go back in the bottle. That's okay. We'll learn to live with it. We'll build better bottles.