Slashdot Mirror


SourceForge Clarifies Denial of Site Access

Recently there were some complaints from certain users outside the US stating that they were no longer able to access SourceForge.net. SF.net (who shares a corporate overlord with Slashdot) has outlined the reasons for these bans, and until someone with sufficient power to alter US law or the lists governing who is allowed to access what data from where, there is unlikely to be a change in these bans. It is worth noting that SF.net is not alone in these difficulties, as the same problems have been reported from other repositories, like Google Code. "As one of the first companies to promote the adoption and distribution of free and open source software, and one that still puts open source at the center of its corporate ideals, restrictions on the free flow of information rub us the wrong way. However, in addition to participating in the open source community, we also live in the real world, and are governed by the laws of the country in which we are located. Our need to follow those laws supersedes any wishes we might have to make our community as inclusive as possible. The possible penalties for violating these restrictions include fines and imprisonment. Other hosting companies based in the US have similar legal and technical restrictions in place."

9 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. No Helium for Nazis by flyneye · · Score: 3, Funny

    With any luck this will force Bin Laden to have to use Windows O.S. and programs from downloads.com to do his twisted interpretation of Allahs will.
    There could be some justice in this yet.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  2. I blame Bush by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    When are we going to impeach G.W.Bush so we can get someone else in the White House?

  3. Re:Time to move the servers? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Unless you feel like criticizing the state or something, in which case your last cup of tea will be atypically energetic.

    Or, if you aren't cool enough for that, you'll join the long list of journalists and rabble rousers who just get shot in the street.

  4. Relocate SourceForge to China by maroberts · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't think it has any problems with connection to any of those countries....

    Maybe you can swap servers with Google...:-)

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  5. Re:Anyone who can use SourceForge by daveime · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately, all of the good OSS proxies have their source code hosted on sourceforge.

    10 PRINT "CIRCULAR REFERENCE"
    20 GOTO 10

  6. Political Asylum by el_jake · · Score: 5, Funny

    You should seek political asylum in Europe the land of the Real Free. Not bound by legal enslavement or crooked intelligence agencies, yet.

    --
    In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.
  7. Re:Failure of thought by CannonballHead · · Score: 3, Funny

    They look good on paper. And powerpoint presentations.

  8. Re:Ah, that old law again. by OldEarthResident · · Score: 2, Funny
    Evil Overlord Rule #12:

    One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.

    Perhaps policy makers should read the Evil Overlord list before making policy. :-)

    --
    I have a unusual vision problem which the NHS has failed to diagnose. Can you help? More at failedbythenhs.blogspot.com
  9. Seas between US and Canada by Thundersnatch · · Score: 3, Funny

    These sure look like seas to me...