SourceForge bans IPs from the Axis of Evil

[CptStern]

....plus a few other countries that even though they're not necessarily EVIL with a capital E they're certainly up to no good. ..every last citizen ..without fail, even the babies, nuns and little old ladies ...EVIL!!!

Since 2003, the SourceForge.net Terms and Conditions of Use have prohibited certain persons from receiving services pursuant to U.S. laws, including, without limitations, the Denied Persons List and the Entity List, and other lists issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security. The specific list of sanctions that affect our users concern the transfer and export of certain technology to foreign persons and governments on the sanctions list.

This means users residing in countries on the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanction list, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria, may not post content to, or access content available through, SourceForge.net. Last week, SourceForge.net began automatic blocking of certain IP addresses to enforce those conditions of use.

http://sourceforge.net/blog/clarify...or-certain-persons-in-accordance-with-us-law/

this comes a day after Clinton's speech on internet freedom

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/01/135379.htm

 

[No Limit]

Wait, a company that thrives itself on open source is denying certain people the ability to obtain the source code? Do these people know what open source actually means?

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

Rationale: In order to get the maximum benefit from the process, the maximum diversity of persons and groups should be equally eligible to contribute to open sources. Therefore we forbid any open-source license from locking anybody out of the process.

Some countries, including the United States, have export restrictions for certain types of software. An OSD-conformant license may warn licensees of applicable restrictions and remind them that they are obliged to obey the law; however, it may not incorporate such restrictions itself.

 

[CptStern]

Wait, a company that thrives itself on open source is denying certain people the ability to obtain the source code? Do these people know what open source actually means?

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

not just certain people but every last citizen of entire countries. hundreds of millions of people