[irc-support-sig] #157: Support for US Embargoed Nations (#fedora FAQ)

[irc-support-sig]

#157: Support for US Embargoed Nations (#fedora FAQ)
-----------------------------+-----------------------
  Reporter:  mribeirodantas  |      Owner:
      Type:  feedback        |     Status:  new
  Priority:  major           |  Milestone:  Fedora 19
   Version:                  |   Severity:  Neutral
Resolution:                  |   Keywords:
Blocked By:                  |   Blocking:
-----------------------------+-----------------------

Comment (by sergiodj):

 Replying to [comment:13 bjensen]:
 > Everyone is ignoring the FACT that these parties in question are not
 supposed to possess or have access to Fedora in the first place.

 Well, I believe I should thank you.  You actually did a huge favor by
 raising this problem to my awareness.  According to
 <https://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora>, when you click in "Export
 regulations", you see:

     By downloading Fedora software, you acknowledge that you understand
 all of the following: Fedora software and technical information may be
 subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (the “EAR”) and
 other U.S. and foreign laws and may not be exported, re-exported or
 transferred (a) to any country listed in Country Group E:1 in Supplement
 No. 1 to part 740 of the EAR (currently, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan &
 Syria); (b) to any prohibited destination or to any end user who has been
 prohibited from participating in U.S. export transactions by any federal
 agency of the U.S. government; or (c) for use in connection with the
 design, development or production of nuclear, chemical or biological
 weapons, or rocket systems, space launch vehicles, or sounding rockets, or
 unmanned air vehicle systems. You may not download Fedora software or
 technical information if you are located in one of these countries or
 otherwise subject to these restrictions. You may not provide Fedora
 software or technical information to individuals or entities located in
 one of these countries or otherwise subject to these restrictions. You are
 also responsible for compliance with foreign law requirements applicable
 to the import, export and use of Fedora software and technical
 information.

 The part I am most interested in is this one:

 '''You may not provide Fedora software or technical information to
 individuals or entities located in one of these countries or otherwise
 subject to these restrictions.'''

 This is clearly wrong, because it assumes that the jurisdiction of the
 EMBARGO (as you yourself put) is the whole world, which is absurd,
 fortunately.  The Free Software Foundation (and the GPL) also says
 something interesting about this.  If you look at
 <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html>, you will see:


     Sometimes government export control regulations and trade sanctions
 can constrain your freedom to distribute copies of programs
 internationally. Software developers do not have the power to eliminate or
 override these restrictions, but what they can and must do is refuse to
 impose them as conditions of use of the program. In this way, the
 restrictions will not affect activities and people outside the
 jurisdictions of these governments. Thus, free software licenses must not
 require obedience to any nontrivial export regulations as a condition of
 exercising any of the essential freedoms.

     Merely mentioning the existence of export regulations, without making
 them a condition of the license itself, is acceptable since it does not
 restrict users. If an export regulation is actually trivial for free
 software, then requiring it as a condition is not an actual problem;
 however, it is a potential problem, since a later change in export law
 could make the requirement nontrivial and thus render the software
 nonfree.

 Again, the interesting part is:

 '''In this way, the restrictions will not affect activities and people
 outside the jurisdictions of these governments. Thus, free software
 licenses must not require obedience to any nontrivial export regulations
 as a condition of exercising any of the essential freedoms.'''

 In other words, the Fedora Project cannot demand that I, a brazilian
 citizen, comply with an U.S. law.  Therefore, "these parties" in question
 '''can''' and, if it depends on me, '''will''' possess and have access to
 Free Software.

 I am contacting some nice guys from the Free Software Foundation who will
 gladly solve this issue with nice guys from the Fedora Project, I am sure.
 So thank you for bringing this topic to my attention!

 > I don't give a damn if their "feelings" get hurt reading the Wiki and
 unable to accept that.

 The fact that you don't give a damn to someone's feelings, my fellow
 human, is an issue I can't fix, unfortunately.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://fedorahosted.org/irc-support-sig/ticket/157#comment:16>
irc-support-sig <irc://irc.freenode.net/#fedora>
Feedback and tracking of issues for the folks who try and improve support in #fedora on irc.freenode.net