Re: Problem serving one-click installer to Syria

On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 1:07 AM, M. Bashir Al-Noimi <admin(at)mbnoimi(dot)net> wrote:
> Hi again,
>
> I just want to know is there any progress in blocking issue?
>
> until now I noticed that you didn't get a solution for it, is it true?

I had a conference call yesterday with a lawyer who specialises in
export control and had worked with us in the past on such issues. He
basically said that regardless of any crypto related restrictions, it
is illegal to export, or facilitate the export of anything from the US
to any embargoed countries, which are currently Syria, Iran, North
Korea, Sudan and Cuba.

In practice, this means that:

- No one from a US company such as EnterpriseDB can make the
installers available to you, no matter where they are based, without
putting the company and possibly themselves at risk of prosecution.

- No community members in the US can make the installers available to
you without putting themselves at risk of prosecution.

- No community members outside the US can intentionally make the
installers available to you on any servers in the US (which includes
the postgresql.org mirror network), without putting themselves at risk
of prosecution should they travel to the US.

- No community member with the ability to prevent it (i.e. because
they are a sysadmin) can knowingly allow the installers to be made
available to you by another person on servers within the US, without
putting themselves at risk of prosecution either in, or when entering
the US.

- Anyone giving advice or otherwise suggesting how you might get hold
of the installers may be facilitating export, and thus liable to
prosecution in or upon entering the US.

So unfortunately the advice we've received is essentially identical to
what Josh found when working for Sun, which is that there is nothing
that EnterpriseDB, or the community running postgresql.org can do to
help without risking severe penalties.

I don't agree that this is in any way morally right, but I'm sure you
understand that I and many others with ties to the US cannot take the
risk of helping you download the products.

--
Dave Page
EnterpriseDB UK: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company