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

[Matthew Flaschen]

Les wrote:
> On Sat, 2007-08-11 at 04:34 -0400, Matthew Flaschen wrote:
>> Les wrote:
>>> But Fedora/Redhat is not imposing this, the government is.
>> Ultimately, it is a federal law.  But the problem is, Fedora is
>> attempting to make the users follow the law.  The GPL doesn't allow
>> this, and the government can enforce the law without their help.
> 
> Fedora is required to inform you of the law.

Informing you of the law is different from requiring you to follow it.
The current notice says, "By clicking on and downloading Fedora, you
agree to comply with the following terms and conditions:"  If I don't
comply, I am violating not only U.S. export law, but also Fedora's
terms.  If they just wanted to inform you, they could say something like:

"United States of America laws and regulations prohibit distribution of
Fedora technology to the following nations:

....

"
> The GPL cannot prevent or over-ride this.

It wouldn't prevent mere information like the above.

Matt Flaschen