On Fri, May 08, 2009 at 06:10:03PM -0500, inode0 wrote: > On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > The Fedora Project is treated as any US entity or person by US law. > > US law includes embargoes and other regulations that place severe > > restrictions on the export of certain types of materials, including > > some of the software found in Fedora, to specific nations. (Other > > general restrictions exist which probably apply to Fedora as well.) > > These nations are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, and Syria. > > Therefore, we're strictly forbidden from exporting Fedora to those > > nations, or from aiding in their transference. For example, we cannot > > accept requests to ship media to those nations under any part of the > > Fedora Project. > > Ok, with respect to distribution of media this is pretty clear. > Although there is always this parenthetical "other restrictions" that > remains a mystery to me. What are those restrictions? How do they > apply to other areas of the Fedora Project? I don't know that I even understand all of them. The export laws are pretty detailed and numerous, which is why there are lawyers who specialize in them. I do know that certain kinds of software, like strong cryptography, are included. Other kinds of software, maybe even software in general, may be included as well. There may be simple exchanges of goods including computer media that are included. The practical point is that Fedora feels the impact on a lot of different levels. > For example, in the Q1 events I see an event in Sudan. > > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraEvents#FY10_Q1_.28March_2009_-_May_2009.29_3 > > What are Fedora representatives allowed to do at an event in one of > these nations? The Fedora Project cannot give any monetary support to these events. Doing so would create a business relationship that violates the law. > My biggest question remains this. How can ambassadors know what they > are allowed to do to help contributors from these nations to > participate in the Fedora Project? IANAL, but speaking as the FPL, the Fedora Project itself should not be hosting materials that violate, or give the appearance that Fedora is violating, export restrictions. -- Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/ gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717 http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/ irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug _______________________________________________ fedora-advisory-board mailing list fedora-advisory-board@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-advisory-board
