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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."
So they are letting people "opt in" to remove export controls. Who is liable if the code is subject to export restrictions, SF or the developer?
Why not simply host the servers in a country that doesn't have brain-dead restrictions on the "export" of ones and zeros? One that doesn't classify encryption/decryption code as a "munition"?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
As a Canadian locked out of Hulu and Comedy Central's web clips, I wish geolocation based on IP would burn in hell already.
That being said:
There was a Syrian developer commenting on the story about the original announcement, he was justifiably pissed off that Sourceforge had decided to deny him access to his own work. Does this change allow him to work on his project in peace?
Has Slashdot decided to stop mentioning that Sourceforge is owned by the same parent company? They're sure trying to do some damage control by going straight to Slashdot's front page with their weird opt-in workaround..
Why does this requires "mates" in another country? Can't they just go through a proxy server in another country?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I can code. I am not american. I am not a lawyer. People are downloading from local mirrors, not from USA. How can i say if the project should be restricted or not?
Why does the USA government not build a firewall to prevent exporting any American byte to the restricted list?
...necessary. Why has Source Forge suddenly decided that it is?
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Which developed country is willing to take thousands of refugees from the U.S. copyright regime, software patent regime, mobile phone regulatory regime, and other results of bought senators?
Because we all know that North Korea has no way to get access to any servers outside North Korea.
I wouldn't worry about that since North Korea basically has no Internet.
Well, when you need to choose between a stupid candidate and an abominable one, sometimes stupid is the better choice. Usually, though, they aren't *actually* stupid. They're just cleverly disguising their goals. But they *aren't* experts in any field except getting elected, and, possibly, law. So they make decisions that look stupid to anyone expert in ANY other field. And that's almost everybody. (They just disagree about which decisions were stupid.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.