Re: Legal possibility of more open package reviews.

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 11:36:03AM +0200, Nicolas Dandrimont a écrit :
> 
> For mentors.debian.net, there are two main blockers for a .org transition:
>  - Seeking an answer to this redistribution without verification problem
>  - Making the codebase acceptable for DSA administration
> 
> The first point has been handled by zack, and we have on hand a legal document,
> vetted by SFLC lawyers, that makes the mentors platform a "DMCA safe harbor".
> 
> Basically, everyone is still allowed to upload packages, and those packages are
> distributed directly, the admins need to leave the copyright owners a way to
> claim that a package infringes on their copyright and act swiftly to hide such
> packages, pending a possible counterclaim from the uploader.
> 
> We need to publish that policy, and then we should be compliant with DMCA safe
> harbor policies.

Hi,

I do not understand the following:

  - If mentors.debian.org needs to follow the DMCA, why would
    mentors.debian.net be exempt of it ?  Also, how do the safer harbor
    procedures differ from your current practices ?  Surely, if a copyright holder
    reports an infringement to support@mentors.debian.net, you will remove the
    package, isn't it ?

  - If mentors.debian.org can distribute unreviewed packages by becomming a
    DMCA safe harbor, wouldn't it be possible for ftp-master.debian.org/NEW.html ?

  - Bonus question: since mentors.debian.net seems to be hosted in Germany,
    does it mean that developers living in the US should refrain from uploading
    crypto to it ?  How do other distributions solve that problem ?

Cheers,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan