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Is Buying Cuban Software Legal In the US? The Answer is Hazy (blogspot.com)
lpress writes: The Treasury Department recently issued new regulations authorizing "the importation of Cuban-origin mobile applications and the employment of Cuban nationals by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to develop such mobile applications." Great, but that is ambiguous, so I asked Treasury some follow-up questions: why is the rule restricted to mobile apps, what is the definition of a mobile app and can the Cuban developer work for a Cuban cooperative or government enterprise or must it be an individual? The answers were mostly "no comment" so the best way to clarify the situation is to try it and see what happens.
ahahahahahahHAHAHAAHAAHA
I think that the embargo is stale - and that Cuba actually would be hurt a lot more today if it was suddenly lifted.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
US is always for free trade. Oh ... yes?
That silly embargo is still active?
Sheesh, you'd think they'd be over the hole sugar thing by now.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Who actually cares. There's virtually nothing that Cuban developers can offer, that other better offshoring centers don't already provide. You might fantasize about saving a little bit on labor costs by using Cubans, but you're misguided. Your better off using any of the other well established offshore development centers, India, Ukraine, China... cause fuck American developers, amIrite?
Why add legal complexities and liabilities to your obstacles? The biggest of which is that nobody wants your crappy me-too mobile spying app.
Aside from the "mobile" angle (a valid question), you asked them about a bunch of restrictions they didn't impose.
It doesn't count as stonewalling to offer no response to "have you stopped beating your wife yet?".
Only mobile "apps" are permitted? Really? Why does it feel like we are headed toward outlawing running real "programs" on your own self-controlled computer? Clearly software not approved by Google or Microsoft or Apple is a national security risk. Jailbreaking a toy computer to run un-approved programs, much less write your own, will be a crime. The dumbing-down of the proletariat will be complete when everyone carries a toy computer, also known as a telescreen, that can't be turned off, oh wait, we already have that. How did we let this happen?
The best thing to do when the consequences are multiple huntreds of thousands of dollars, or more, in fines and jail time is to NEVER try it and see unless you have a good idea on what would happen.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
But remember folks, ignorance of the law is no excuse. So if you try it and get tried/convicted of some crime, its your own fault. You knew full well what would happen. Even if no one else did before.
Who needs editors?
Who's going to complain? Mexico? Bwahahaha Europe? Oh noes not a UN resolution!
Of course it could be the pretext for Russia, China et al. to pull the trigger and go for it. The US has had a pretty good run, and I'm sure they'd turn a fair amount of the world into glass before they were beaten.
Steel drums, sugar, rum, sun and sand, classic cars. These are the things you think of when you think of Cuba. Software? Only one type of customer would ask this question: People with plans to outsource to Cuba.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
You first.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
What about the apple app store cut / payout system how does that fit in this.
I would rather have a Cuban sandwich. They are delicious.
'Future Unclear'
But really, who'd want to buy new software made out of refurbished bits and parts of old cold war -era Cobol and Ada source code hacked together with with Bondo compilers and chicken wire linkers?
And C64. A bit of IBM-PC if you can afford it, and have at least 256 KB RAM and CGA and two floppy drives. Those were the days my friends.
You asked them to clarify a definition. The government rarely comments on such matters. Now you're left with a completely ambiguous legal interpretation.
Instead ask the question: "I'm doing this, are you okay with it?" The action implies that someone makes a decision on the definition. When the no-comment comes back you can take that as no objection and that is somewhat defensible as it was specific to your case.
I just bought the dirt-cheapest GPS module around, a uBlox NEO-6M. It shipped from China, as you might imagine. Unlike most other listings, it had an export warning that said I couldn't send it to the Sudan. Hilarious.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Because of internet lacking in places, I import my cuban software on tiny memory cards inside cigars.
Stupid Americans
Buying might still be illegal, but pirating it likely is not ... cough ... cough.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Try Again Later.
Is Stuffing Cuban Cigars Up Your Girl Friends Behind Legal In the US? The Answer is Hazy
I think the real question is buying Cuban Rum Legal In the US?
No comment equals "no limitations" when talking about a democratic government. It's called predictability and rule of law for the less fortunate living under people who understand only meaningless power games.
It's still a violation of US law to do most business with Cuba and for Americans to transfer any money to any Cuban entity. Depending on which law you decide to break, the statute of limitations will leave you at extreme legal risk for a number of years.
President Obama has issued "executive orders" which are basically his personal instructions to the executive branch employees he currently supervises, BUT, he has never been willing to negotiate with the congress on anything (HIS version of "negotiate" which is "you must agree with me" is NOT a negotiation or a compromise) and therefore all of his moves relative to Cuba are just his temporary instructions; the actual federal laws prohibiting most financial transactions with Cubans are still in effect. Essentially, Obama has told his people to not enforce the laws, which are still on the books and still valid. Every Obama executive action can be undone with a single order from whoever replaces him. Anybody doing business with Cuba now under the Obama executive orders could find themselves accused of very serious felonies in January 2017 followed by time in federal prison. It's actually even feasible that federal law enforcement officials could ignore Mr. Obama's instructions and choose to enforce the law (as some of President Nixon's men in the justice dept did) since ultimately the laws passed by Congress always trump executive orders. Don't count on Hillary saving you either - If the atty gen or any of another group with the authority decide to enforce the law anyway, it would then become a criminal act for the President to intervene (see: Richard Nixon)
It serves Mr Obama's political agenda to issue all these executive orders re Cuba, but beware: it might not suit your future finances and freedom to take him at his word, which is NOT a legal defense for violating an actual law.
You have been warned.
Same thing in Russia, traveling within the confined space of a single nation has never been a problem.
It's a problem in Russia. Russian citizen can't travel within Russia without having to show his internal passport everywhere. Train tickets for example, you can't buy them without showing your passport. Air tickets. Police checking documents. Hotels. Everywhere. Recently Duma (law making "rabid printer") wanted to enforce passport control even for buying inter-city bus tickets!
And if you fail to show your passport to cops they detain you "until they find out your identity". A few months ago I went to police station to file papers (some dorks scratched my car at night and my insurance company demanded police papers to confirm that crime happened) and saw a bunch of asians behind bars. Waited a lot for my papers and listened for many stories for people being arrested because of no papers. And nobody cares about 2 hours limit unless lawyer appears there.
Which I'm all for btw.