[ NNSquad ] SourceForge blocks Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan and Cuba

[Joe Baptista <baptista@publicroot.org>]

I think this is a shame.

http://bit.ly/5lhoK1

regards
joe baptista

p.s. story not verified. If anyone Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba can
independently verify this story would be much obliged.


I think this is a shame.<br><br><a
href="http://bit.ly/5lhoK1";>http://bit.ly/5lhoK1</a><br><br>regards<br>joe
baptista<br><br>p.s. story not verified. If anyone Iran, Syria, Sudan
and Cuba can independently verify this story would be much
obliged.<br>

   [ Yes, this is true, however, it is an extension of a situation
     that has existed in one form or another for quite some time (there
     have been some restrictions related to SourceForge and other sites
     for at least two years I believe).  Other software-related issues go
     back much farther historically (especially associated with advanced
     crypto).

     This all relates to U.S. export control laws, see:

     http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/liststocheck.htm

     While it might be tempting to try draw comparisons between export
     controls and censorship, it's unreasonable to compare the
     inability to directly send certain countries a GNU source
     repository vs. a government throwing its own citizens into prison
     to rot if they publicly say the "wrong thing" about Tibet.  Those
     are the kinds of false comparisons that so disgusted me about the
     recent statements by Gates and Ballmer, effectively equating
     Chinese and Saudi human rights standards with those in the U.S.

     That having been said, I personally feel that these kinds of
     software export restrictions are both useless and silly.  But my
     opinion on this plus $1 will only buy you a cheap cup of coffee.

     -- Lauren Weinstein
        NNSquad Moderator ]