A contributor is not allowed to use Fedora legally?

[Tobias Weisserth]

Hi,

On Wednesday, 22. September 2004 21:09, Brian Mury wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 01:37, Tobias Weisserth wrote:
> > It's not a matter of licenses or EULAs. It's a matter of US export
> > regulations.
>
> It *is* a matter of licenses or EULAs in this case, because the
> restriction is written into the EULA.

The thing is, as the original message already pointed out, a distribution's 
EULA can never overrule the licenses from the individual packages that are 
part of the distribution.

I don't know if there are any packages inside Fedora core that are not 
licensed under some Open Source license. Any Open Source license mustn't 
restrict use/export regionally BY DEFINITION as you can see for yourself at 
www.opensource.org. Free Software as in "GNU Free" is even more explicit. So, 
any export restriction in a EULA for a 100% Open Source distribution is a 
conflict in itself.

> > The restrictions are required by US law. If you download Fedora from any
> > mirror outside the US then these restrictions do not apply as long as
> > these other download locations are not affected by likewise regulations.
>
> Since it's in the EULA, it doesn't matter where he downloads it from.

Yes it does. Not every EULA is valid in every country by default. Microsofts 
EULA for example is (has been?) partly invalid/illegal in Germany due to 
consumer protection by German law.

> The EULA also has that "will not export, re-export, or transfer the
> Software to any prohibited destination" bit that would apply to mirrors
> outside the US.

The question is whether this isn't in conflict with existing laws in these 
mirror countries.

Nonetheless, it is a silly and ridiculous situation. I guess nobody will 
object that these export restrictions in the EULA originate from US 
regulations that are somehow neither enforceable nor justified.

Where I in his situation I'd phrase my objection to such regulations in a 
clear fashion and turn my back on US originating goods and carry the fruit of 
my creative work to producers outside of the US. If enough people will act 
like his then there's a chance that the administration realizes its laws hurt 
the wrong side. But that's just my humble opinion.

regards,
Tobias