Like it or not,
Theo has a point... freebsd is shipping export-restricted
software in the core
Robert Bonomi
bonomi at mail.r-bonomi.com
Thu Oct 7 21:48:32 UTC 2010
> Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 07:23:02 +0200
> From: Erik Trulsson <ertr1013 at student.uu.se>
> To: "Randal L. Schwartz" <merlyn at stonehenge.com>
> Cc: RW <rwmaillists at googlemail.com>, freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: Like it or not, Theo has a point... freebsd is shipping
> export-restricted software in the core
>
> On Wed, Oct 06, 2010 at 04:08:35PM -0700, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
> > >>>>> "Erik" == Erik Trulsson <ertr1013 at student.uu.se> writes:
> >
> > Do you have a different opinion, and is it a legal opinion?
>
> To me it looks much more like a case of some corporate standard
> cover-your-ass boilerplate text that is used regardless of whether
> there is reason to believe any particular piece of software needs any
> special export approval.
>
That is an *exactly* correct reading of the text in question.
What requires explicit permission from the U.S. government (or other
national authority , for those in a different locale) *changes* over time.
"Just because" it doesn't require a license _now_ doesn't mean that it
will =never= need one. And simplarly, if it -does- need a license now
it may _not_ need one at some (unknown) point in the future.
*ALL* that language is doing is saying that the original licensor (INTEL)
has _not_ made any determination as to what, *IF*ANY*, export controls may
apply, now or at some unspeciied point in the future, to that code.
AND that anyone who _does_ intend export said software has to (a) make
that determination for themselves, and (b) _comply_ with such legal
requirements themselves to be in compliance with the license from Intel.
As a matter of _law_, those exact restrictions apply to *EVERY* piece
of _every_ O/S -- OpenBSD, NetBSD, Open Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, or
'whatever' -- that are accessed from a server that is located in the
United States. It _doesn't_ matter where the code 'came from', you can
import from anywhere, but certain things you _cannot_ 'export', even if
you got it from 'somewhere outside the U.S.'-- a 'somewhere' that the
person you're sending it to could go to themselves and get it.
Intel is simply protecting _themselves_ against a =future= claim that
_they_ (Intel) 'facilitated' the distrubution of 'export-controlled'
software to the 'bad guys'.
"When in doubt" you placard 'everything'. For stuf that you -give- away,
there is nothing to be gained by spending the time/money to make the
determinatin yourself -- It's not going to make you any additional profits
if you do it, do "why bother?" applies.
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