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SourceForge Removes Blanket Blocking
Recently there was much gnashing of teeth as SourceForge (which shares a corporate overlord with Slashdot) started programmatically blocking users in certain countries to comply with US export restrictions. Thankfully they didn't let it end there and have found a way to put the power back in the hands of the users. "Beginning now, every project admin can click on Develop -> Project Admin -> Project Settings to find a new section called Export Control. By default, we've ticked the more restrictive setting. If you conclude that your project is *not* subject to export regulations, or any other related prohibitions, you may now tick the other check mark and click Update. After that, all users will be able to download your project files as they did before last month's change."
They hope to avoid liability.
They are complying with the law. Certainly, what they are doing is stupid and will be completely ineffective. But that's hard to avoid when complying with a law that is stupid and completely ineffective.
Yeah. These restrictions make so much sense. Because we all know that North Korea has no way to get access to any servers outside North Korea. And no one can use a proxy server at all. And they really are going to be absolutely helpless without the tiny open-source projects. This is as ridiculous as the old restrictions on exporting encryption (at least those got removed a few years ago).
Great news, and this is a brave thing to do :)
Blindly blocking all SF projects to some people was wrong. I said this before, US export laws should only apply to US products. OpenSource/Free software projects should stay "open" and "free/libre" to everybody. Those who worked hard on these projects, including developers from the banned countries, should have the right to decide whether their projects should be blocked or not.
Some said the law applies to SF just because they host the projects. If the law was strict to this level then the whole internet should be banned to these countries.
Why the hell does anyone even use SourceForge anymore? Their tools suck, the site is beyond slow and plastered with ads, and you have to play download roulette with their crappy 90s-era mirroring system. Plus you get crazy decrees like this from whatever's going on at the top. It's not like there aren't alternatives these days. Google Code is awesome by comparison.
Feel free to rent a server in some random country and mirror sourceforge.
...that projects such as TOR and Freenet exist.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
The USA has compiled a list of the countries it considers most repressive, and attempted to forbid the citizens of those countries from using encrypted communications... I don't think the governments on that list mind.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
The USA is squandering some of its technological lead and economic opportunities with dumb-ass laws.
I've already had to stop hosting several online businesses in the US due to the patriot act and international customers' unwillingness to have there data stored in the US.
Stem cell research was set back a decade by Christian fundamentalist opposition making its way into
federal law.
Laws restricting export of US software just result in software being innovated faster elsewhere.
As Freeman Dyson once said: The best way to defeat soviet communism would be to ship Apple computers to their population en masse. He was basically right, though who knew it would be cloned PCs that would do the trick.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?