USA export restrictions and GPL - how can they co-exist?

[Geoffrey Leach]

On 08/10/07 13:19:14, Steve Searle wrote:
> Around 09:07pm on Friday, August 10, 2007 (UK time), Geoffrey Leach
> scrawled:
> 
> > IMHO, you've got it backwards.  However you might read the GPL, it 
> > would be ill-advised to send a disto (or other restricted stuff) to 
> > Cuba. I very much doubt that the Feds would accept a reading of the
> GPL 
> > to let you off the hook.
> 
> I assume your warning was only meant for those living under the
> jusristriction of "the Feds".
> 
> Would this restriction also mean a US citizen couldn't take a laptop
> running Fedora to Cuba, or even more interestingly does that mean any
> of
> your armed forces who may use Fedora, can't when they are serving in
> Iraq?

Hmmmm.... interesting question. Would a US Citizen who took a laptop 
with Fedora be prosecuted for illegally exporting code in addition to 
being prosecuted for illegally traveling to Cuba? Or only if the laptop 
was left behind?