[OSGeo-Discuss] on Google Code and export restrictions

P Kishor punkish at eidesis.org
Tue May 27 07:26:31 PDT 2008


On 5/27/08, Chris Puttick <chris.puttick at thehumanjourney.net> wrote:
>
>  ----- "Frank Warmerdam" <warmerdam at pobox.com> wrote:
>  > Dave Patton wrote:
>  > > Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>  > >
>  > >> I agree that we ought to consider developing a similar policy to
>  > >> Apache's.  I'll add an agenda item for the next board meeting to
>  > >> start digging into this.
>  > >
>  > > One item for discussion would be what takes place
>  > > when a project enters incubation. Do they "opt in"
>  > > to the OSGeo policy? If they don't, are they then
>  > > excluded from being an OSGeo project? Can they
>  > > "opt in", and yet maintain their own project
>  > > infrastructure (website, svn, download links, etc.)
>  > > on servers in another country, and have access
>  > > to that infrastructure be subject to policies that
>  > > may conflict with the OSGeo policy?
>  >
>  > Dave,
>  >
>  > Projects going through incubation are allowed to maintain their own
>  > distinct infrastructure, wherever they want for the most part.  But
>  > they are still board as a project to follow OSGeo policy and obey
>  > applicable US laws even if their download server (for instance) is
>  > not in the US.
>  >
>  > Best regards,
>  > --
>  > ---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
>  > I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam,
>  > warmerdam at pobox.com
>  > light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
>  > and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo,
>  > http://osgeo.org
>  >
>  > _______________________________________________
>  > Discuss mailing list
>  > Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>  > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
> Then I respectfully suggest, insofar as some recent US laws are at a level of paranoia that might prevent some open source software from actually being open. that OSGeo should consider reconstituting itself in a country that is less totalitarian in its attitudes.


Easy now. Prefixing "respectfully" to assertions of "paranoia" and
"totalitarian" to a country whose funding and work gave rise to
MapServer is not a good strategy. In fact, it would be difficult to
conceive of open source itself without the contributions of this
"totalitarian" and "paranoid" country.

National-level security-related policy decisions are not usually made
with consideration of their impact on every conceivable issue. The key
is to constructively find a way around it, which many on this list are
trying to do. I am sure OSGeo is not the first group to face this
situation.

For starters, I am asking around with my policy-contacts to see what
light they can shed on this.



>
>  Regards
>
>  Chris
>
>
>
>
>  ------
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-- 
Puneet Kishor http://punkish.eidesis.org/
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/
Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) http://www.osgeo.org/



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