* Tom spot Callaway <tcallawa@xxxxxxxxxx> [2007-03-27 10:03]:
> Debian interprets free/non-free in the FSF sense of the term, not in
> a legal sense.
Debian used to have a "non-US" repository, but that was mainly for
crypto software before the crypto export laws got relaxed. Sometimes
people ask for the re-introduction of non-US to allow software that is
not allowed in the US, but there are no plans to do this since the
problem is not just with US law.
Unlike Tom asserted, Debian isn't willing to break US law. For
example, we don't distribute video encoding software. (*) Regarding
patents, the stand is basically that software with patents is okay as
long the patents are not actively enforced.
("free" is actually called "main")
(*) Yes, MP3 playback software is included. I'm not quite sure why
but possibly there's simply a different interpretation of the status
of playback software.
--
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/
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