export policy, was Re: Package Maintainers Flags policy

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Tom "spot" Callaway <tcallawa at redhat.com>

| On 05/26/2009 10:09 AM, Paul Wouters wrote:
| > See above. Note that the Wassenaar Agreement excludes software that is
| > in the "public domain", eg free/open source software.
| 
| This is not correct. "Public Domain" has a very specific legal meaning,
| and 99% of FOSS does _not_ meet it. Public Domain is when the copyright
| holder has explicitly abandoned his/her/its copyright on the work and
| placed it into the Public Domain. (Note: In some countries, such as
| Germany, this is impossible)

Tom is right about the meaning of "public domain" in US law.  This is
not the meaning in the Wassenaar Agreement.