Re: proposed new pseudo-package 'debian-mentors' for handling sponsoring requests
IANAL, etc., but how about getting some legal advice on this? It
seems to me it wouldn't be nearly as cut and dried as all that; have
you examined whether or not such a scheme could be set up in such a
way that makes it a DMCA safe harbour?
Cheers,
Michael
On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 7:47 AM, Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> wrote:
> Michael Gilbert <michael.s.gilbert@gmail.com> writes:
>> On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 1:07 PM, Russ Allbery wrote:
>
>>> For the main archive, the NEW check I think is best thought of as a
>>> spot check to ensure maintainers are doing their jobs. The real
>>> responsibility of not uploading non-redistributable material lies with
>>> the Debian project members with upload rights. ftpmaster is just
>>> checking for mistakes (at the point at which most mistakes are made).
>
>>> The difference for mentors is that the uploaders are not (yet) Debian
>>> project members and are not guaranteed to be trained in our licensing
>>> policies, and have not agreed to follow our rules.
>
>> So, I think these concerns can be abated by thinking of mentors more of
>> an alternative NEW queue for newcomers; rather than as an alternative
>> package pool, which it's not (binary packages are not served, and files
>> hosted are not widely distributed since most users wouldn't know what to
>> do with a source package even if they got one).
>
> The problem with thinking of mentors as a NEW queue is that one of the key
> properties of the NEW queue is that Debian does not distribute the files
> in that queue. In other words, they are not retrievable by people other
> than those doing NEW processing until they've been approved.
>
> As long as files are kept within the project, Debian is unlikely to get in
> much trouble (although historically we've had to be careful about US
> export regulations as well), even if the software is non-redistributable.
> But once Debian is serving out copies of the files to the general public,
> via whatever means, the project (insofar as the project has a legal
> existence, which is admittedly weird) is responsible for that
> distribution, could be sued, etc.
>
> So, it would work to think of mentors as a NEW queue provided that things
> uploaded to it are only available to Debian project members. If they're
> available to the general public, it's something else.
>
> --
> Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
>
>
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