Michael Dell's statement is a more grievous attack on civil liberties than the original it tries to apologize for.
It is inappropriate for a company to engage in the range of considerations for domestic, non-export use of a product Dell outlines unless the company has made those considerations publicly known, and law substantiates the restrictions. Patriotism and information warfare are insufficient reasons. Perhaps Dell has been covertly deputized to perform this role but it is more likely that it has taken it on in the same way ISPs and a slew of other zealously patriotic companies and individuals have chosen to put government interests ahead of customer and citizen privacy. Dell's apology is a shallow cover-up of a deeper cover-up. It is likely there will be more of these as exhortations increase to take commercial advantage of inflamed panic over homeland security, demonstrated by Cheney's speech in California a few days ago and the global security summit upcoming in NYC in early March. Read the list of 77 speakers and corporate sponsors to see who is throwing fuel on the fire and anticipating firefighting: http://www.globalprivacysummit.net/ Note the inclusion of privacy as the bait for the switch. What to brace for are more incidents which will justify a united front of government and corporate assault on civil liberties as the terrorism machine generates lucrative economic apologies for boom time.
