SourceForge.net banned Sudan, Syria, Cuba, Iran and North Korea

[zero-n]

- SourceFroge have banned countries in the sanction list form downloading.

SouceForge.net term of use (http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sitelegal/wiki/Terms_of_Use#ProhibitedPersons).


I will count the services that if have faced problem with:

1- code.google.com
2- Sun website ( java, netbeans , virtualbox, etc ...)
3- WLM ( need to change country to have access to the service )

This is what i can remember now.

some websites will give you a timeout message if try to access it, but if
you used proxy or VPN connection the website will open without problem.

my point is where is the freedom to get, contribute, involve, and whatever.


what is your opinion ?

[diesch]

Seems to be caused by US law so you can't blame SourceForge. But it's a good reason not to host OpenSource projects on servers in the USA.

[Mark76]

That sucks :(

It's not like it's the governments that suffer when ill-thought out measures like this are applied.

[JSeymour]

Seems to be caused by US law so you can't blame SourceForge. But it's a good reason not to host OpenSource projects on servers in the USA.But... but... but... How can this be?!?! Why, just recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been calling for an uncensored Internet (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/clinton-to-urge-uncensored-internet-amid-google-china-dispute.html). Another case of "do what we say, not what we do?"

Sometimes my own country embarrasses the hell out of me :(.

Jim

[dwflo]

Typical USGov't reaction. We have a big problem in Washington, it's called "idiocy".

Dave

[diesch]

But... but... but... How can this be?!?! Why, just recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been calling for an uncensored Internet (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/clinton-to-urge-uncensored-internet-amid-google-china-dispute.html). Another case of "do what we say, not what we do?"


"The State Department has $5 million available in funds appropriated by Congress last year for organizations that promote technologies to get around firewalls," - maybe one should ask get some money to provide tools to circumvent access restrictions caused by US law.




Sometimes my own country embarrasses the hell out of me :(.


This "censorship is evil - except if we do it" attitude isn't uniq to the US. We have it here in Germany too :-(

[diesch]

Here is a explanation from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/blog/clarifying-sourceforgenets-denial-of-site-access-for-certain-persons-in-accordance-with-us-law/

[zero-n]

Thansk diesch (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=920628).


i think for the time being we will use proxy services to access SourceForge.net

but i hope that they add a mirror outside the US.

and thanks god that Launchpad.net is not in US.

[Mark76]

What militarily sensitive software does SF distribute?

Just curious :-\"

[tgalati4]

Anything with high-level encription is subject to US export control laws.

[schneida]

Where is the sense? USA blames countries like China to acknowledge human rights and to give up their censorship and then that??

I can really feel with you.

[doas777]

Anything with high-level encription is subject to US export control laws.


some years ago a man was denied the right to travel internationally, because he had the algorithm for RSA1 tattooed on his person.
http://www.geekytattoos.com/illegal-tattoos-rsa-tattoos/

as the article points out, that restriction was declared unconstitutional, but I don't know if the laws forbidding export were ever changed. I do know that 128-bit ency is exportable these days, but not sure if 256 is still liable.

[djchandler]

What's crazy about this is that honest, law-abiding users from the "banned" countries are the only ones being punished. Anybody with nefarious motives can still get anything they want provided they are funded well enough. All one needs to do is travel to an unrestricted country, book into a hotel that has internet access, and you have your access. Of course your IP activity will probably be monitored, but it all is anyway no matter where you are.

[pricetech]

But... but... but... How can this be?!?! Why, just recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been calling for an uncensored Internet (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-21/clinton-to-urge-uncensored-internet-amid-google-china-dispute.html). Another case of "do what we say, not what we do?"

Sometimes my own country embarrasses the hell out of me :(.

Jim

It's not the country that's an embarrassment, it's the politicians in charge of it.

[zero-n]

Anybody with nefarious motives can still get anything they want provided they are funded well enough.


so you consider anyone that wants to help & capable of avoid this kind of restriction have (nefarious motives)


All one needs to do is travel to an unrestricted country, book into a hotel that has internet access, and you have your access.

what an easy solution to do !

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Some of the comments on that blog post are amazingly ignorant, selfish and short-sighted. Full of maniacs who think free software is above the law.

They have the typing box below the blog post because people are supposed to read it first.

Sorry, I had to rant. Glad to see you guys understand :)

[schneida]

What's crazy about this is that honest, law-abiding users from the "banned" countries are the only ones being punished. Anybody with nefarious motives can still get anything they want provided they are funded well enough. All one needs to do is travel to an unrestricted country, book into a hotel that has internet access, and you have your access. Of course your IP activity will probably be monitored, but it all is anyway no matter where you are.

It's not even that hard, you just need to use a proxy (like for example TOR).

[diesch]

According to http://sourceforge.net/blog/some-good-news-sourceforge-removes-blanket-blocking/ the access restriction can now be changed by the project owner.

[zero-n]

It is a good news but not that much.

by this step every project owner have to remove countries from the sanction list by his own

i think i would be better if they remove the banning & if the project owner want's to change it ok no prob

[EliBei]

How interesting

I thought open source should be open to anyone. I would understand such a move from Microsoft, but from Source-forge...that's a let down.

My enthusiasm for Linux and the reason why I finally installed Ubuntu (along with vista) was greatly influenced by the open-source philosophy which gives individual users like me the freedom to choose, try, and decide on their own. In a way, the open-source movement is a human-rights advocate. It's a pitty that such an decision was taken, maybe the open-source movement should move all of its headquarters to Switzerland...hehe. I don't know, open-source was, and should remain different and should not be yet an other measure in the hands of politicians.

[JSeymour]

It's not the country that's an embarrassment, it's the politicians in charge of it.And who elects those politicians?

[cprofitt]

And who elects those politicians?

A small percentage of people living in the country...

Oh... and those of us that do vote only get a choice between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dumber usually.

[logari81]

This decision of sourceforge.net even in its second variant is absolutely incompatible with the most common free software license, namely GPL.

GPL refuses any restrictions even if they are motivated by clearly moral arguments, like no military use:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#NoMilitary

Which means that if I write a software and I want to publish it under the GPL license I can't prevent neither USA nor Iran from using my software to kill each other more effectively :-( .

I suppose, this decision in GPL has been done on the base that moral and laws are interpreted differently in different civilizations. It would be a major problem for the generality of GPL to get involved in these issues.

Sourcefourge.net has decided to get involved in such a problem and lost its compatibility with GPL. By setting the restriction on by default, I consider SF incompatible with what it should represent. I will never host a new project in SF.

[yasir.elsharif]

1. I did not know this issue abut GBL but since so, I think we should all pull our applications from there and host them somewhere else.
2. I think US lifted Internet sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Cuba on the 9th on this March
http://news.techworld.com/networking/3214714/us-lifts-internet-sanctions-on-iran-sudan-cuba/?olo=rss
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-03/09/content_9556889.htm

[tgalati4]

If you do tatoo an RSA key on your forehead, make sure it's covered by a turban or kaffia, otherwise you will get stopped at airport checkpoints.

[diesch]

1. I did not know this issue abut GBL but since so, I think we should all pull our applications from there and host them somewhere else.
[/URL]

I've always prefered European hosters, like http://www.berlios.de (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-03/09/content_9556889.htm), [url]http://gna.org or https://www.launchpad.net

[rd1381]

Thansk diesch (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=920628).


i think for the time being we will use proxy services to access SourceForge.net

but i hope that they add a mirror outside the US.

and thanks god that Launchpad.net is not in US.


launchpad now uses goddady for ssl certificate and godaddy blocks all access from iran so basically no launchpad in iran.
hooray for software freedom.

[ario]

launchpad now uses goddady for ssl certificate and godaddy blocks all access from iran so basically no launchpad in iran.
hooray for software freedom.

I Confirm this BUG!

[Elfy]

Closed - necromancy