Roozbeh Pournader wrote:
I was wondering if I can do anything about not being able to use Fedora Core legally. To use software that is partly my own (I am a copyright co-holder for Mozilla, FriBidi, GNOME translations (sometimes under the name "FarsiWeb", Pango, etc), I need to "warrant that I am not located in Iran":
http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/core/test/2.91/x86_64/os/eula.txt
But the problem is that I live there, and have been living there while working on all those pieces of software
Is Fedora allowed to do that, even when I have copylefted parts of the software under GPL and LGPL? Won't that be adding more restrictions, and against the explicit text in the licenses that says "You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein"? Also, isn't the same EULA claim that the whole collective work is under GPL? If yes, how can it add those restrictions?
I would appreciate any kind of comment or recommendations, on-list or off-list. This has somehow created a mental problem for me...
Roozbeh Pournader
I just talked to President Bush, and he said that if you dismantle your nuclear reactor and stop disrupting democracy in Iraq, that he will let you use Fedora Core without restriction.
Seriously, this export restriction only applies to Red Hat. The U.S. law does not apply to you, unless Iran recongizes U.S. export restrictions and applies the restriction to you, which I highly doubt. If you download Fedora Core from a mirror outside the U.S., you avoid any potential conflicts.
I believe only Red Hat can be held accountable, especially if the U.S. government finds out that Fedora Core's name is a code word for Nuclear Core, in which Fedora Core runs your new reactor. Just kidding.
Isn't it a shame that the world cannot just put down the guns, theology, ideology, politics and just write code. It would be a better place.
Pasha has just pointed out that EULA might state that you cannot use Fedora Core if your on the export list, if the EULA says that, then according to Red Hat, you are an illegal user in their eyes.
Byte
