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Re: DFSG-compatibility of X13-ARIMA-SEATS (U.S. federal govt. software)



Le 03/08/2018 à 11:44, Sébastien Villemot a écrit :
> Dear fellow developers,
> 
> I would like to package X13-ARIMA-SEATS¹, which is software developed
> at the U.S. Department of Commerce. As such, it is not copyrighted in
> the U.S., and rights to use, redistribute and modify are explicitly
> granted outside the U.S.
> 
> However, the last clause of the licence says that the “user agrees to
> make a good faith effort to use the Software in a way that does not
> cause damage, harm, or embarrassment to the United States/Commerce.”
> This may be seen as a restriction on use (and therefore contrary to
> DFSG§6), though it is unclear to me whether this is a significant-
> enough restriction to make it non-free, and whether it is really
> enforceable.
> 
> Do you think that this license is DFSG-compatible?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your insights,
> 
> ¹ https://www.census.gov/srd/www/x13as/

Hello,

the next sentence in the same paragraph says "The United States/Commerce
expressly reserve all rights and remedies", so it could means that "good
faith effort" is a real constraint, not just a wish

My 2 cents…

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