Re: Remove source forge country block
Robert Manning <robert.m.manning <at> gmail.com>
2010-06-09 22:17:17 GMT
Mansour,
Completely agree that notification was lacking and SF failed there.
As far as open source goes, I suppose that US laws effectively
prohibit true open source development of dual-purpose software (e.g.
encryption ciphers) or the use of them. It is still completely legal
to develop dual-purpose open source code outside of the US and host it
on a server located outside of the US, and re-distribute it anywhere
(US laws don't prohibit importation of dual-purpose software). It
would be nice not to have to think about these regulations when
developing code, but unfortunately, today, that is where we are. I
don't believe we have any code that is dual-purpose in SQuirreL, but
ultimately Gerd will have to make the decision to remove the block.
Recently I have been researching the export laws to see if it will
allow us to implement encrypting passwords in our aliases xml file.
It looks like there are some conditions that may not require export
notification, but I am not ready to try that out at this point :)
Rob
On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 2:57 PM, Mansour Al Akeel
<mansour.alakeel <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> Rob:
> Thank you, and I can see your point. I totally understand the
> restrictions on SF. However, a better job notifying the projects admin
> can be done. I don't see SF have taken enough efforts trying to work
> around this issue. For example they could have added a page to notify
> any admin when they login the first time after this block took effect.
> This will allow more projects admins to be aware of the situation, then
> they can take the measures to ensure the project is qualified to be
> exported or not. Failing to take this extra step by notifying
> the admins, makes me think they are biased, and the statement saying they are
> obligated to block those countries is false.
>
> On the other hand, source forge have mirrors (contributed) every where especially in
> Europe, where these rules don't apply.
>
> Please note that, these products are not exported by the US, since they
> were not developed on American soil. They came from everywhere and they
> are public domain.
>
> I think there are many ways not to add this block, or at least to go
> around it. This was not the case, and "IS" voilation for open source.
>
> To me, comments on this page are very useful, and they shed some light
> on many points.
>
> http://sourceforge.net/blog/clarifying-sourceforgenets-denial-of-site-access-for-certain-persons-in-accordance-with-us-law/
>
>
>
> Thank you again for your opinion.
>
>
>
> On Wed Jun 09,2010 12:46 pm, Robert Manning wrote:
>> Just to be fair, the "discrimination" was brought about because:
>>
>> "As a US-based web site, SourceForge remains committed to complying
>> fully with all relevant US laws and regulations, including those
>> affecting the distribution of software."
>>
>> One of those laws has to do with export compliance, that says that
>> dual-purpose (civilian/military) software (e.g. encryption ciphers)
>> cannot be exported without meeting certain conditions. In certain
>> cases one of those conditions is to file paperwork with the government
>> for notification that the software being exported is dual-purpose or
>> contains dual-purpose third-party libraries. Penalties for
>> non-compliance include fines and jail time. Since SF probably doesn't
>> have the staff to determine which projects are in danger of
>> non-compliance, I'm guessing that SF is attempting to shift the burden
>> for compliance to project administrators, since they are in a better
>> position to make that determination.
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6/9/10, Mansour Al Akeel <mansour.alakeel <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Source Forge added a country block to control who can download "Their" software.
>> >
>> > Read this.
>> > http://arabcrunch.com/2010/01/following-clintons-internet-freedom-speech-us-based-sourceforge-blocked-syria-sudan-iran-korea-cuba-is-open-source-still-really-open.html
>> >
>> > A temporary solution is to remove this country block. This can be done
>> > by the project admin. Here's how to do it:
>> > http://sourceforge.net/blog/some-good-news-SourceForge-removes-blanket-blocking/
>> >
>> > A perfect solution is to find another free hosting for this project,
>> > so that everybody can download this product without "discrimination".
>> >
>> > Thank you.
>> >
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>
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