Re: Question about license compatibility
On Sat, 2005-07-23 at 21:46 -0700, Sean Kellogg wrote:
> On Saturday 23 July 2005 08:04 pm, Jeff Licquia wrote:
> > On Sat, 2005-07-23 at 17:11 -0700, Sean Kellogg wrote:
> > > This is a difficult situation that is worth commentary. Assume for a
> > > moment that the U.S. has some strict export restriction. As a U.S.
> > > citizen I am bound by those laws and cannot legally violate them.
> > > Further, if I am to distribute software it is entirely possible that the
> > > law prohibits me from distributing that software to citizens of certain
> > > nations and to ensure those who receive copies do the same.
> > >
> > > This means I have have a responsibility to ensure others don't distribute
> > > and cause me to break the law. The only tool by which I have to do that
> > > is the license.
> >
> > Is this really true?
>
> Sorry if I didn't make it clear that I am very much talking about
> hypothetical.
Thanks for the clarification.
> My interest, I guess, is whether the DFSG will forbid a developer from having
> their code distributed if they live in a country with restrictive export
> laws?
The old crypto export regulations in the US did have the effect of
prohibiting Debian developers in the US from doing any work on crypto in
Debian. See also the MIT Kerberos "bones" project, from which Heimdal
Kerberos sprung. So, it would seem, the answer to your question is
"yes".
On the other hand, in the US, there's a sense in which sharing source
code has freedom of speech implications (see Bernstein v. DOJ and the
various projects to print crypto code on T-shirts). This limits the
extent to which the government can use export regulations to forbid
citizens from participation in free software activities, assuming the
linkage is upheld.
Reply to: