Embargoing certain countries, but still being open source

[Chris DiBona]

Hi Anton;
Such a license would simply not be open source, and as such, we're unlikely
to be a big help. Geographical restrictions have a hard time matching up
with the open source definition,  See clause 5:
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.

From:
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 11:54 PM, Anton Lauridsen <anton.lauridsen at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Hi
>
> I have a couple of Open Source projects, licensed under BSD, but for
> which I have the complete copyright. I am contemplating to change the
> license into something, which prevents US citizens and/or interests,
> directly or indirectly from using my software.
>
> Does such a license already exist? if not, would it still be considered
> open source?
>
> If such a license does not exist, how do I go about creating one?
>
> /anton
> ps. this is *not* a troll, and please do not try to argue, that I
> shouldn't do this, the decision has been made, it is merely a matter of
> "how to do this?", not "should I do this?" or "is this right or wrong?"
>
>
>


-- 
Open Source Programs Manager, Google Inc.
Google's Open Source program can be found at http://code.google.com
Personal Weblog: http://dibona.com
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