Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:03:22 -0700 From: Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> To: Dmitry Marakasov <amdmi3@amdmi3.ru> Cc: freebsd-ports Ports <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: [legal] port with restrictive license Message-ID: <2B8C6C10-79F1-4825-9AA8-F899A46B57C6@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <20100916184437.GD48415@hades.panopticon> References: <20100911230652.GA1860@hades.panopticon> <slrni94f57.1rou.saper@saper.info> <20100916184437.GD48415@hades.panopticon>
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Hi-- On Sep 16, 2010, at 11:44 AM, Dmitry Marakasov wrote: > The only thing left that worries me is that US export laws stuff - I > absolutely don't understand what that means and how we can/cannot > violate these by mirroring distfiles/packages. For now I've removed = all > mirroring permissions from LICENSE_PERMS for EULA, so this should be > safe. However, I'd really like that stuff explained by someone so > mirroring could maybe be reenabled. >=20 > Is I understand, to comply with license, we need to prohibit > distribution of software into "(or to a national or resident of) > any country to which the United States has embargoed goods", which > we likely won't do thus we should not mirror the files. It generally isn't useful to include specific legal geographical = restrictions into the terms of a license which is used world-wide. US = citizens/residents already are obligated to obey US law, just as people = elsewhere are obligated to follow their own local laws; a software = license doesn't need to mention them any more than it needs to include = the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act or the US FTC's policies and statutes on = "unfair or deceptive acts or practices". Both the OSI and the FSF/GNU folks recommend against including = references to US ITAR export restrictions or similar in licenses. = However, if you want more info, then the US export regulations described = as ITAR are documented here: http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/itar_consolidated.html ...but they explicitly do not apply to material which legitimately is in = the public domain: "The controls of this part apply to the export of technical data and the = export of classified defense articles. Information which is in the = public domain (see =A7120.11 of this subchapter and =A7125.4(b)(13)) is = not subject to the controls of this subchapter." FTP or webservers located in the US which are hosting open-source = software generally do not check whether source IPs come from an = embargoed country. On the other hand, Dan Bernstein and Phil = Zimmerman/PGP folks ended up fighting protracted legal battles over the = issue of publishing cryptographic software.... Regards, --=20 -Chuck Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, nor will I play one on FreeBSD mailing = lists. :-)
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