Methods, systems and computer program products for preventing unauthorized use of protected equipment in violation of export regulations are provided. Aspects include periodically obtaining a location of the protected equipment and storing the location in a location log in a non-volatile memory. Upon receiving a request to operate the protected equipment, aspects also include obtaining the location log from the non-volatile memory and parsing data from the location log to determine whether the protected equipment entered a restricted geographic area. Based on a determination that the protected equipment did not enter a restricted geographic area, aspects include granting the request to operate the protected equipment.