Re: BCFG Public License
Ken Arromdee writes:
> On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, Matthew Garrett wrote:
> > I think you're misunderstanding. You're not asked to agree with the law,
> > merely its existence.
>
> Imagine a hypothetical where five years from now someone believes that the
> law is unconstitutional and is embroiled in a lawsuit about it against the
> government. This person does not, in fact, agree that the law restricts
> people in any way (since an unconstitutional law is not valid). However,
> the software license demands that he agree that he is restricted by law, so
> he is barred from using the software.
The license demands that a licensor agree that the US government might
criminally prosecute him for prohibited exports from the United States
(the license says "OF GOODS AND/OR TECHNICAL DATA"). Good luck
arguing against that broad statement; there are plenty of cases where
goods -- such as military surplus missile launchers -- are export
controlled with no viable constitutional question and some, probably
smaller, number of cases where technical data are validly export
controlled.
Michael Poole
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