Just change the note.
Adrian wrote:
>But for a user, it should be very clear that there are legal risks when
>using libdvdcss.
Yes: accordingly, I believe the note should be changed as noted below.
>Besides this, is it 100% clear that the debconf note and install-css.sh
>couldn't fall under some forbidden promotion or distribution clause in
>Germany or other countries which would also bring legal risks for all
>mirrors and distributors of Debian [1]?
For this reason, I believe the note should be changed as noted below. The
revised version cannot *possibly* be interpreted as promoting illegal
activity. It does not in fact consist of distribution of libdvdcss, and
states that you should only download it if it is legal to do so. Provided it
is legal to do so in one of the countries which Debian's mirrors serves (and
it is), this is reasonable and cautious behavior.
Providing -- with warnings! -- instructions for downloading something which
*might* be -- but probably isn't -- illegal to use in *some* countries, is
appropriate. If it ever becomes illegal or a serious legal risk for you, you
are living in a police state, and 'anarchism' is probably a dangerous package
to have on the servers as well.
I am not a lawyer (and neither are you), but I believe that this change really
does make Debian's legal position as safe as is reasonable to even try.
If you wish to further warn distributors that draconian laws in some
countries, or abusive corporations filing ungrounded lawsuits, may make
certain parts of the archive unsafe to distribute, feel free, but that's
unfortunately true of many packages. :-/
I wrote:
>However, I *would* change the debconf note to say "If it is legal to download
>and use it in your jurisdiction, you can run...." rather than just "Run...."
>in order to point out that Debian is not encouraging illegal activity.
To be on the safe side, I strongly recommend this change be made immediately,
so that it is indicated clearly to the user that there may be legal issues.
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