Re: NBIS license

[Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au>]

Miguel Gea Milvaques <xerakko@debian.org> writes:

> I'm thinking in package the fprint package. It's LGPL, but it contains a
> few files licensed as follow.
> I'm not sure if it's feasible to be in Debian. Can it go to main? and if
> the answer is no, can it go to non-free?
> Thanks.
> 
> PD: Please, include me in CC:

Done.

> /******************************************************************************
> [...]
> Therefore, this file should not be exported, or made available on
> fileservers,
> except as allowed by U.S. export control laws.
> 
> Do not remove this notice.

The notice remains, so this clause is satisfied.

> ******************************************************************************/
> 
> /* NOTE: Despite the above notice (which I have not removed), this file is
>  * being legally distributed within libfprint; the U.S. Export Administration
>  * Regulations do not place export restrictions upon distribution of
>  * "publicly available technology and software", as stated in EAR section
>  * 734.3(b)(3)(i). libfprint qualifies as publicly available technology as per
>  * the definition in section 734.7(a)(1).
>  *
>  * For further information, see http://reactivated.net/fprint/US_export_control
>  */

Whether or not the files do fall under the export control restrictions
discussed, I am unable to say.

If they are being legally distributed by the export laws, then this
part isn't a problem.

If they are not, then redistribution would probably be illegal for any
party who could be prosecuted in the relevant jurisdiction for those
export controls.

> /*******************************************************************************
> 
> License:
> This software was developed at the National Institute of Standards and
> Technology (NIST) by employees of the Federal Government in the course
> of their official duties. Pursuant to title 17 Section 105 of the
> United States Code, this software is not subject to copyright protection
> and is in the public domain. [...]

Explicitly disclaims copyright protection, which might help free the
work in jurisdictions that don't have a concept of "public domain".

The intent of this clause seems quite clear. I would think that by
these terms this work is freely licensed under the DFSG; whether it is
legal to redistribute is a matter of understanding the export controls
issue above.

-- 
 \          "It was half way to Rivendell when the drugs began to take |
  `\        hold" —Hunter S. Tolkien, _Fear and Loathing in Barad-Dûr_ |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney