Junger sought an injunction against the enforcement of provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that require him to get the permission of the State Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls (the "ODTC") before he can communicate information about cryptographic software to foreign persons "whether in the United States or abroad." The penalty for failing to get such permission before disclosing the information can be as great as a fine of one million dollars and imprisonment for ten years. These provisions effectively prevent Junger from admitting foreign students to the course that he teaches about Computers and the Law at Case Western Reserve Law School in Cleveland Ohio and keep him from publishing his course materials and articles containing cryptographic software or explaining what it does how and where to get it and how to use it.

The challenged licensing scheme threatens the long-run viability of the United States software industry and according to a blue-ribbon panel of the National Research Council already costs that industry at least "a few hundred million dollars per year ... and all indications are that this figure will only grow in the future." The regulations have been extensively criticized by industry and bills to repeal or limit them are now pending in Congress.